July 17. 2009

Ola Ray (left) and Michael Jackson (right)

Ola Ray, the woman in Michael Jackson's megahit video "Thriller" has sued his estate for a chunk of the profits from the video.

I am not in agreement with this lawsuit. It violates the worldwide standard in entertainment, that video girls or video guys, are paid a fixed fee, issued one time, for their appearance.

Ola did not write or direct the video, having no creative input that could possibly warrant payments. Furthermore, Jackson and his dancing, were the star of the video. Not to be mean, but Michael could have been dancing and walking with a mop, instead of Ola and that video still would have been a huge hit. She was not instrumental to its success.

She should have parlayed her fame from the video appearance into a career with credible acting roles on TV and or film. Posing for Playboy was a bad idea and a career killer.

Ola Ray

A good agent would have easily gotten her a variety of work for having starred in the most famous music video of all time, so far.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Jackson’s Thriller Girlfriend Sues His Estate For “A Substantial Sum”

Posted on Jul 16, 2009 @ 04:22PM - Michael Jackson’s Thriller girlfriend Ola Ray isn’t letting the singer’s death stop her battle for royalties she claims are owed her from the 1983 video.

The former Playboy pin-up’s lawyer Jason Feldman told RadarOnline.com exclusively that he has served the executor of Jackson’s estate, attorney John Branca with new papers to gain ‘a substantial sum’ in unpaid royalties from the famous video

The parties will meet in court for the first time on August 19.

Ray launched the suit on April 30 but it was then against the singer himself. Jackson’s estate will now be the defendant. “We believe that our client is due a substantial sum as the copyright value for Thriller has gone-up considerably since he died, Feldman told RadarOnline.com.

“It’s obviously complicated to equate exactly how much this is but sales for the video itself have generated somewhere between $15 to $40 million dollars since it was first released.”

http://www.radaronline.com