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Article: No big payday for originator of 'Cheetah Girls'.(NEWSMAKERS)
- Article from:
- Jet
- Article date:
- January 28, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Johnson Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Deborah Gregory still recalls the haunting in Olivia Goldsmith's voice in 1999 when the late author of The First Wives Club told her that she "didn't get paid." Gregory, author of the popular The Cheetah Girls book series, didn't have a clue what Goldsmith was talking about.
Fast forward to 2003, when The Cheetah Girls was made into a Disney channel TV movie, capturing 6.5 million viewers. The movie's sequel topped the first, becoming the most-watched original movie in the Disney Channel's history, according to Disney.
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The characters' popularity helped them to become a brand with massive merchandising, including ...