Screwed Plenty Writers Cry Out For Justice
Do-gooder earth magazine Plenty had a nasty reputation for not paying its writers. The magazine folded in January, but its website was bought by a semi-celebrity. The writers still want their money, okay?
Plenty's print version is dead, but Mother Nature Network, an environmental media company owned by former Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell, bought its website, Plentymag.com. Now, one writer who got stiffed by Plenty (there are plenty of em, ha) tells us that several of them are trying to get MNN to pay up;
No one was paid anything for the last issue on stands (it was a December/January issue). And no one was paid, not even a kill fee, for the Feb/March issue that was being edited/about to be printed, when it folded. A bunch of us are trying and trying to get paid, and [former Plenty owner Mark Spellun] told us a few weeks back, after MNN bought it, that we'd all be paid in two to three weeks, and of course it's now four weeks and...nothing.
They're going to MNN for their payment, but I'm not entirely sure they're liable for it: this story about what MNN was acquiring doesn't make it clear exactly what they're going to be doing with all of Plenty's old content, if anything. [Are YOU a media law expert? Comment].
Of course, since a semi-celebrity's involved here, loud public shaming is the way to go. Like this post, for instance. Holler and scream and use guilt and eventually Chuck Leavell should decide it's much cheaper to pay you to shut up than to have to go in the internet and read people wondering why BIG DO-GOODER CHUCK LEAVELL DOESN'T PAY THE WORKING CLASS FOR THEIR LABOR????