Degrassi co-creator Linda Schuyler has settled a short-lived dispute with producers and production companies WildBrain and Peacock Alley over the new Degrassi documentary.
Schuyler initially filed a lawsuit to halt the Saturday premiere of Degrassi: Whatever It Takes at the Toronto International Film Festival, alleging that “defamatory statements and innuendo” in the film lead viewers to believe she created an “empire” that profited at the expense of the show’s young actors.
All screenings at TIFF, including the world premiere on Saturday, will proceed as planned, according to a joint statement from WildBrain, Peacock Alley and Schuyler.
The parties say they’ve agreed to add context around how actors in Degrassi were paid to the film for future distribution.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday in Ontario. It named the Toronto film and TV production company WildBrain, owner of the Degrassi franchise, and Toronto production house Peacock Alley Entertainment as defendants.
In a version of the documentary provided to the media, some of the show’s early cast members say they were not paid much despite the franchise’s success.
Dayo Ade, who played B.L.T. on Degrassi High, says he ended up taking “every job under the sun” in the years that followed, including at a car rental and security company.
“People are under the assumption that we are millionaires, we have money for the rest of our lives. Couldn’t be more wrong,” Ade says in the film.
“I’m not going to throw a number out there. I’ll just tell you this: it was nowhere near what people thought we were making. You’re going to bleep this part out. We were paid way too (expletive) nothing.”
Amanda Stepto, who played Spike, adds her perspective about working on the show in the 1980s.
“On Degrassi Junior High, I don’t even know if I’m allowed to say it, but I remember 50 bucks a day, or something like that. It’s not a lot of money.”
“And also, being on a non-union set we weren’t allowed an agent or a lawyer or all those things that would be looking out for me professionally when it came time to payment, residuals and all those other things,” she said.
“When it first started, none of them would’ve known the success it would’ve been, but it grew into an empire. And there are definitely individuals who have made money off of the empire.”
The film then cuts to close-up shots of the show’s various awards, including two Emmys, and the cover of Schuyler’s 2022 memoir The Mother of All Degrassi.
Schuyler disputes that claim in the joint statement.
“From the beginning, it was important to me, and to the whole Degrassi team, to do what we could to set our young performers up for success,” she said.
“The cast was paid much more than $50 a day. We also created and contributed on their behalf to a retirement fund and a scholarship foundation that provided them with opportunities for counselling and supported them into the future.”
Schuyler sold her production company Epitome Pictures, including rights for Degrassi, to WildBrain 11 years ago.
She appears in the documentary to share memories of making the influential show, but is not shown onscreen addressing the payment allegations.
“It’s really interesting to develop a correct perspective now in terms of what was going on in the 1980s,” Schuyler says in the film.
“You do the best you can with what you’ve got at the time. For our young performers, some of them have done well and others, it has been a disappointment for them, and I’m really sorry that they feel disappointed. I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do to help with that.”
On TIFF’s website, programmer Jason Anderson credits the doc with “delving into thornier matters, like some actors’ misgivings about what the show demanded of them and how little they were compensated.”
