Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-33451558-20180108013931/@comment-27794543-20180122224741

Sure some random video (which you didn't link) did its research, similarly how the sources I read (which I didn't link) did their research. All seems legit.

For the book series by Kass Morgan, look at each book's copyright page. It says copyrighted by Alloy Entertainment, not KM. KM was a hired writer. (Similarly, as a software engineer, when I'm hired by a company to write code, that company owns the code [KM situation]. However if I was to write some code in my free time, then I own the code. I can decide how to sell it, i.e. if anyone actually wants to buy it [authors who own their own works situation].)

As for the details of KM's contract, you'd have to ask her. While she doesn't own the copyright, her contract included enough right for her being credited in each episode ("Based on the book by" - btw, note that singular "book" is used, not "books"). How much, if any, royalties she gets is also based on her contract. Since Alloy owns the copyright, it's unlikely that KM has any control over how the material is used.

An interesting story is of L. J. Smith, the original writer of The Vampire Diaries novels. Unlike KM, she actually got credited on the copyright page. However, under the hood, Alloy Entertainment actually owned the books. Fast forward twenty years and Alloy fired Smith from the book series. Smith later published a continuation through Kindle Worlds as fanfiction (Kindle Worlds allows fans to publish fanfiction while paying royalties to copyright holder, in this case Alloy Entertainment). Her Evensong novels are considered non-canon even though she's the original author of the series.

Btw, the TV series, is copyrighted by Warner Bros. & CBS, not JR. However, even if he leaves, he will still be credited as "Developed by" in every episode. This is typical TV practice (i.e. it's likely in the contracts): whoever successfully pitched the pilot will forever be credited as developing the show, even if they leave (or are fired) from the show right after the pilot. (E.g. Tom Kapinos wrote the Lucifer pilot, which is loosely based on comic books. After the pilot, the studio decided to replace him. However Kapinos is still credited as developing the show in every episode.) If the TV series is the original material, the pilot writer will forever be credited as creating the show (instead of developing).