Director Sues Over ‘Friends’ Share

The Emmy-award winning director who launched the hit NBC television series “Friends” is suing Warner Bros. Television for more than $5 million, claiming the studio sliced him out of the profit of the hugely successful show.

James E. Burrows contends that Warner Bros., a division of AOL Time Warner Inc., altered the payment structure after it raked in “hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue” from “Friends.”

Burrows, who also directed the hit shows “Cheers” and “Will and Grace,” maintains that he was promised, among other compensation, 5% of the net profit or “defined proceeds” of “Friends.”

Instead, “Burrows has not yet received a single dollar” from the show’s profit, according to the suit, filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.

It wasn’t until the show became popular that Warner Bros. told Burrows that it intended to deduct payments to third parties from his share, according to the suit.

“There is nothing in the agreement that addresses third-party profit participants or adjusted gross participation payments,” Martin D. Singer, Burrows’ attorney, said Tuesday. “The agreement is silent on that issue.”

A Warner Bros. spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the company does not discuss litigation.

The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages.