Global Agency Preps Legal Action Over Momma’s Boys

LONDON, July 17: Format
distributor Global Agency says that it is preparing a law suit alleging that Momma’s
Boys, a new reality series from
Ryan Seacrest and Andrew Glassman for NBC, is a copy of its The Perfect
Bride format.

The NBC show premiering
in the fall centers on a group of mothers choosing the perfect bride for their
sons. Momma’s Boys is a
production of Ryan Seacrest Productions (RSP) and Glassman Media.

Global Agency alleges
that Momma’s Boys is a copy of The
Perfect Bride, created in 2004 by
Lutfu Murat Uckardesler and originally broadcast in Turkey, with sales in Italy
and the Middle East and options in several markets. Global Agency’s Izzet
Ressam said Uckardesler “based The Perfect Bride on an old Turkish tradition where sons must have
full approval from their mothers before they marry. If the mother rejects the
girl, she will never be accepted into the family. This is obviously not an
American custom.”

According to Ressam, NBC
was contacted and has maintained that the show is an original creation. “They
stated that it is an independent format,” Ressam states.

Ressam tells World
Screen Newsflash: “We at Global
Agency pitched this format to thousands of production companies around the
world, advertised in the entertainment magazines, had a stand at NATPE MIPCOM,
MIPTV; so almost everybody in the industry is aware of our format.”

He continues: “We care
so much about protecting author's rights, therefore we prepared all the legal
documents, found the lawyer and will take the necessary action probably at the
end of next month.”

—By Mansha Daswani