A new eight-part miniseries chronicling the history of the Beatles currently in production for NBC has hit a massive snag as the publisher of most of the band's music wants to do something similar.
Marty Bandier, the chairman of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, who controls the rights to all-but six songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, dished to Billboard:
"About six months ago, we were working with Sony Pictures TV on a show centered around the journey of the Beatles, and at one point we were talking about working with Baz Luhrmann."
If a deal cannot be reached, NBC would be restricted to the six Lennon-McCartney songs not owned by Sony/ATV - George Harrison's compositions and several covers - provided they could secure the rights with their respective publishers. NBC would also have to secure the likeness rights from McCartney, Ringo Starr and the Lennon and Harrison estates.
The NBC series was written by Michael Hirst, best known as the creator and executive producer of Showtime's The Tudors.
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