Sarah Michelle Gellar learns the hard way not to mess with a high-stakes negotiation. Fox is haggling over renewal, and tells her she'll go where the show goes -- or else.
by Scott Collins

Tuesday , January 30, 2001 11:19 p.m.

Generally speaking, TV executives bend over backwards to indulge the talent on their shows. But when an actress inserts herself into the middle of a high-stakes contract negotiation, all bets are off, as Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar learned to her chagrin.

Up for renewal after five seasons, Buffy is now the subject of tense negotiations between producer Twentieth Century Fox and The WB. The outcome is critical for the network, because Buffy, while not the network's highest-rated series, is one of its biggest ad revenue generators, with 30-second spots going for about $100,000. WB is believed to pay around $1 million per episode in licensing fees for the show, and Fox chief Sandy Grushow has indicated that if the network doesn't pony up more money, the studio will shop the show elsewhere.

But all these financial considerations were thrown up in the air last week when Gellar -- who's well aware of the renewal talks -- was quoted saying she'd leave the show if it moved to another network. ''I will stay on Buffy if, and only if, Buffy stays on The WB,'' the starlet told E! Online. The item was subsequently picked up by the Los Angeles Times last Wednesday.

Her remarks surprised and angered Fox executives, considering that Gellar is under contract to the show until 2003, regardless of where it runs. If the star was, in fact, announcing a serious intention to bolt the show if it switched networks, the studio's bargaining position would be seriously undermined, to say the least. And Fox was not about to face that prospect without a fight.

What happened next shows just how frantic Hollywood players become when a major deal is on the line, with the studio springing into full damage-control mode. First, Buffy creator Joss Whedon expressed his displeasure to Gellar in a personal conversation, insiders say (Whedon's agent was not available to comment). Then Grushow, who's not one to pull his punches, rang up Gellar's attorney Debbie Klein -- whom he has known since they were classmates in the fifth grade -- and reminded her of the little matter of her client's contract.

If Gellar left the show, one studio insider told Inside, ''she would be sued for breach of contract and (if the studio won the suit) every penny she's made would be coming back to us.''

Klein, according to sources familiar with the situation, conferred with Eddy Yablans, Gellar's agent at ICM, who in turn spoke with her publicist, Marisa McGrath. While it's unclear what happened next, apparently Gellar or her people decided she needed to calm the waters. (Yablans, though an ICM spokesperson, disputed this version of events, but declined to comment further, as did McGrath. Klein could not immediately be reached for comment.)

A Fox publicist arranged for Gellar to call the L.A. Times reporter who writes the ''Morning Report'' column. What followed was a wholesale retraction from a ''contrite'' starlet. ''I'm not going anywhere, and I can't stress that enough,'' Gellar told the paper. Explaining that she had made the remark about leaving ''in passing,'' she added that ''Fox has been very good to me . I intend to stay with Buffy no matter what.'' Insiders say that Gellar was shaken by how quickly a supposedly offhand comment of hers had turned into another flash point in the ongoing battle between the WB and Fox.

The new item ran in last Thursday's editions. All of 24 hours had passed since the original piece appeared.