This Men In Black Secret Will Blow You Mind (For The Worst Reasons)

Men In Black's Writer Hasn't Received Any Profit Residuals

Men In Black
Columbia Pictures

But what does Men in Black have to do with all of this? Well, it serves as an unfortunate example of how writers are mistreated by the studio system - something the film's writer, Ed Solomon, has scathingly highlighted on social media. Solomon (who you can also thank for writing all of the Bill & Ted movies), adapted Men in Black from the Malibu comics of the same name, collaborating with director Barry Sonnenfeld to create that ineffable fusion of whimsy, action, and comedy that Jones and Smith channeled so well on camera.

The screenplay for Men in Black is a real thing of beauty - a funny, rapid-fire adventure that provided the ideal basis for Sonnenfeld, Elfman, and effects artist Rick Baker to work their magic and bring that world to life. Without Solomon, there is no Men in Black as we know it today - he was integral to its success.

However, despite Solomon's instrumental role in the development of the first Men in Black, in the last 25 years, he is yet to receive any kind of residual payment from Sony. Solomon has highlighted this over on his Twitter on several occasions, twice in 2019, calling his profit statement "the greatest work of science fiction [he's] ever been involved with." Solomon followed this up with another tweet in 2021 which stated that the film was losing money at a faster rate, "down over $6 million" within a year.

Because many contracts stipulate that residuals are dependant on films turning a net profit, this means that Solomon has never shared in the spoils of the franchise he helped spawn, even though the first Men in Black obviously made loads of money, and it would cost relatively little for Sony to pay him.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.