‘The Pitt’ Is Not A “Derivative Work” Of ‘ER’, Warner Bros. TV Says In Response To Michael Crichton Estate Suit

Warner Bros. Television, the studio behind hit NBC medical drama ER and the upcoming Max medical drama The Pitt, has officially responded to the breach of contract lawsuit filed in August by Sherri Crichton, the widow of ER creator Michael Crichton, on behalf of John Michael Crichton Trust’s Roadrunner JMTC.

“The Pitt is a completely different show from ER,” the redacted filing says. “Plaintiff cannot use Mr. Crichton’s ER contract as a speech-stifling weapon to prevent Defendants from ever making a show about emergency medicine.”

The motion to dismiss (you can read it here) was filed Nov. 4 by attorneys for the TV studio as well as the ER alums working on The Pitt named in Crichton’s suit, exec producer John Wells, star/exec producer Noah Wyle and writer/exec producer R. Scott Gemmill. It pushes back on the estate’s claims that “The Pitt is ER” and that WBTV and the producers proceeded to create a version of the NBC series set at an urban Pittsburgh hospital after negotiations between the two sides for an ER reboot failed, infringing on the estate’s contractual right of approval for any “derivative work.”

The studio argues that similarities between the two shows are only generic “and shared by numerous shows in the medical drama genre—like stories about emergency medicine in an urban hospital or interns overwhelmed by their new jobs—and the fact that ER and The Pitt have one actor (Wyle) in common.” (To support the latter claim, the filing notes that ER star George Clooney had previously starred in a medical show titled E/R. Both series were set at a Chicago emergency room.)

“The Pitt is not a “derivative work” of ER,” the motion says. “And it would be absurd to interpret the ER Agreement as prohibiting WBTV from ever again making a medical drama about emergency medicine (and Wyle, who was not even a party to the Agreement, from ever starring in one) without Mr. Crichton’s consent.”

The document, filed by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, has been redacted to conceal plot and character details about The Pitt, which is yet to be released. The new series is believed to take place in real time over a day in the vein of 24. The motion argues that The Pitt‘s plot, themes, dialogue, characters, mood, setting, pace and sequence are all different.

The document also details WBTV failed 2021-22 negotiations with the Crichton estate for a potential ER reboot with Wells, Wyle and Gemmill, which the estate had described as “fraught with bullying and veiled threats” in its suit.

The studio called Sherri Crichton’s demands for “many millions of dollars” “exorbitant” and “unreasonable”, “well above industry standards.” WBTV claims that its monetary offers were “substantial” with “generous terms.”