A task force made up of science fiction and fantasy, romance, crime and horror authors has been formed in an attempt to persuade Disney into paying authors outstanding royalties for novelisations and comics relating to their properties, including Star Wars, Alien and Indiana Jones.

The so-called DisneyMustPay Joint Task Force includes major writers Neil Gaiman, Tess Gerritsen, Mary Robinette Kowal and Chuck Wendig among its members. It has been formed by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in partnership with the Author’s Guild, Horror Writers Association, National Writers Union, Novelists, Inc., Romance Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.

The author organisations came together after the SFWA became involved in the author Alan Dean Foster’s battle to get Disney to pay him royalties for his bestselling novelisations of Star Wars and Alien. Foster was asked to write his novelisation of Star Wars: A New Hope by George Lucas himself, which was published in 1976. When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, it bought the rights to the Star Wars novel, while Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019 meant it also bought rights to Foster’s novelisations of Alien, Aliens and Alien 3.

But despite the books still being in print, Foster claimed that Disney was not paying him royalties for them and that he’d had to go public after the company ignored multiple queries from his agents, legal representatives and the SFWA. The latter claimed that Disney had argued that it had purchased the rights, but not the obligations of the contract.

Foster said he needed the royalties, citing his wife’s “serious medical issues” and his diagnosis with an advanced form of cancer in 2016. Foster’s story provoked mass outrage, with the hashtag #DisneyMustPay trending on Twitter.

“When one company buys another, they acquire its liabilities as well as its assets. You’re certainly reaping the benefits of the assets. I’d very much like my minuscule (though it’s not small to me) share,” said Foster in November.

Foster recently hinted that a resolution was near, writing on his website last month that the “irritating imbroglio with Disney … is moving rapidly toward a mutually agreeable conclusion”. In its founding statement, the task force says that Foster’s case “has been resolved” but that it has since been contacted by “about a dozen” authors who are “similarly missing royalty statements and payments going back years” from Disney-owned or controlled companies.

The task force is calling for more authors who believe they are affected to come forward and says it has received “verified reports” of authors missing royalties for works relating to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Spider-Man, Stargate, Angel and Predator.

In one example, the task force alleges that the author of a Buffy comic had contacted Boom! Comics about their royalties. Fox had initially licensed comic book rights to Dark Horse, but when Disney purchased Fox, the rights were taken from Dark Horse and given to Boom! Comics. The writer said they were told by Boom! Comics that “royalties don’t transfer”.

“Since Disney has declined to cooperate with the task force in identifying affected authors, the #DisneyMustPay Joint Task Force needs help to contact everyone who might be affected. The joint task members need writers, readers, and fans to alert authors who may be affected,” the task force says in its announcement.

“Writers must be paid or given missing royalty statements; these contracts must be honored,” said Mary Robinette Kowal, author and president of the SFWA. “We urge all authors to review their statements to make certain they are in order.”

The task force is calling for Disney to honour the contracts it holds, and for the media giant to provide royalty statements and payments to all affected authors.

“SFWA wishes to create a cooperative relationship with Disney, but the corporation flatly refuses to work with us,” said Kowal. “They say they are committed to paying the authors, but their actions make it clear that Disney is placing the onus to be paid on the authors, while at the same time attempting to isolate the authors from receiving counsel from their professional author organisation.”

A Disney spokesperson told the Guardian that they were working with authors and agents to resolve the cases that have been raised so far. “We are carefully reviewing whether any royalty payments may have been missed as a result of acquisition integration and will take appropriate remedial steps if that is the case,” they said.