The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead Producers Suing AMC For Up To $1 Billion

AMC has survived stiff Sunday night competition against The Walking Dead to keep its flagship […]

AMC has survived stiff Sunday night competition against The Walking Dead to keep its flagship series’ title as most-watched on cable but it will now have to endure an intimidating lawsuit.

On Monday, in what might turn out to be one of the biggest profits cases in television history, The Walking Dead‘s creator Robert Kirkman and series producers Gale Anne Hurd, Glen Mazzara, and David Alpert have filed suit against AMC. The group claims to have been cheated by the network regarding profits and their fair share — a number which could total a billion dollars according to former showrunner Frank Darabont’s attorneys.

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“This case arises from a major entertainment conglomerate’s failure to honor its contractual obligations to the creative people โ€“ the ‘talent,’ in industry jargon โ€“ behind the wildly successful, and hugely profitable, long-running television series The Walking Dead,” opens the complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court. “The defendant AMC Entities exploited their vertically-integrated corporate structure to combine both the production and the exhibition of TWD, which allowed AMC to keep the lion’s share of the series’ enormous profits for itself and not share it with the Plaintiffs, as required by their contracts.”

Following the lead of former showrunner Darabont’s (who was fired as executive producer in The Walking Dead‘s second season) case, the plaintiffs are seeking to question the amount “paid” by AMC Network to AMC’s studio arm for the right to air The Walking Dead — a title based on Kirkman’s comic books.

On AMC’s profit participation statements are imputed license fees, which serve as a stand-in figure which does not actually indicate money has changed hands For the first four seasons of The Walking Dead, the fee sat at $1.45 million per episode. The number has since risen to $2.4 million. Still, the fee is less than the non-imputed license fees of Better Call Saul and Mad Men, which are produced by non-affiliated Sony and Lionsgate, respectively.

“There can be no question that, if AMC Studio[s] and AMC Network were not part of the same conglomerate, the story would be very different,” states the complaint. “Those substantial license fees for Mad Men and Breaking Bad continued in seasons five and beyond, even though their ratings were a fraction of TWD’s. And while the AMC Network only obtained a limited number of playdates for those series as part of the comparatively-higher license fees it paid for them (both on television and its affiliated websites), the AMC Entities unilaterally took for themselves the right to run an unlimited number of runs of TWD in perpetuity on all AMC platforms.”

Krikman, Hurd, Mazzara, and Alpert have not yet pinpointed a price point on what the imputed license fee should be. However, they are also aiming at deductions taken by AMC for payments to other The Walking Dead profit participants and are objecting to AMC’s choice to turn down a third party looking for internation rights to the series “so that [AMC] could do a related-party deal for much less than the related party offered, again keeping the profits at conglomerate level and not passing them through to AMC Studios and the participants.”

Kirkman’s deal entitles him to 5 percent of The Walking Dead’s profits, while Hurd’s earns 7.5 percent, Alpert earns 2.5 percent, and former showrunner Mazzara earns 1.5 percent. Each cite provisions to their respective deal incluing most-favored-nations clauses which culminate to self-dealing protection. As THR puts its, “the Walking Dead executive producers say they thought they had it all figured out only to be blindsided.

AMC has since responded to the claims.

Darabont’s Case

Darabont and his agents submitted their lawsuit seeking a damages verdict in excess of $280 million in late 2016.ย AMCย has stoodย firmly against all claims thrown at them byย Darabont’sย team.

“Plaintiffs’ damages claim has no basis in reality and we will continue to vigorously defend against this lawsuit,” saidย AMCย in a statement toย THR.

Darabontย served as the co-creator andย showrunnerย ofย The Walking Deadย through its first six-episode season and was fired from the production half way through the second. Following his departure,ย AMCย licensed the series to its cable affiliate network for an amount of money whichย Darabont’sย team claims was not enough.ย 

Darabont’sย team claims the network should be imputing $30 million per episode, which over seven season would sum up to hundreds of millions of dollars more than AMCย has booked in its revenue.

Darabont’sย contract entitled him to as much as 10 percent of certain The Walking Dead profits after deductions. Given the amount his team is filing for in damages, the numbers suggest that theย AMCย series has hauled inย mutlipeย billions of dollars.ย 

The trial also highlighted the circumstances surroundingย Darabont’sย departure from the series.ย Darabontย is alleged AMCย improperly reduced his profit share by not counting his efforts on theย show’sย second season as being involved all year, claiming to have worked on all episodes of the second season. A judge allowed the claim after an initial deposition fromย Darabontย which revealed the “crisis-level problems” on the show.

Standing Ground

Despite the lawsuit, it does not appear AMC sees The Walking Dead going anywhere any time soon — unless the network truly had no clue of the impending filing.ย 

AMCย Networks purchasedย Riverwoodsย Studios, a company which had been operating under Raleigh Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, from Kudzu Productionsย LLCย where The Walking Dead is produced justย a week ago.

The nearly 80,000-square-foot studio housesย The Walking Deadย and onlyย The Walking Deadย on its four stages, acres of land, and various other on-property locations. It is the only studio in the country which dedicates all of its resources to one production year-round. The network bought the studio for $8.25 million.

While operating under Raleigh Studios, the studio has housedย The Walking Deadย since 2011. The second season was when the show started to call the location home, and it has since expanded to build the Hilltop location, the Oceanside houses, and the prison in Seasons Three and Four which has since been transformed intoย Negan’sย Sanctuary.

In fact, both the interior and exterior of a particular stage have been transformed into theย show’sย popular villain’s hideout, and despite popular belief, the prison location which it served as earlier in the series was created on the studio’s lot and was never actually a Georgia prison.

Other sets built and housed by the studio include Father Gabriel’s church which was torn down and, ironically enough, became the location ofย Negan’sย introductoryย beatdownย of Glenn and Abraham. As for theย Woodbury, Alexandria, and Terminus locations — each was and is a real-world location dressed up to fit the apocalyptic vibes offered byย The Walkingย Dead‘s zombie world.

The purchase byย AMCย should serve as an indicator of how long they plan to makeย The Walking Deadย last. Purchasing the studio is not only an investment for future endeavors at the network but also provesย The Walking Deadย is not going anywhere any time soon. The cable juggernaut still nabs well over 12 million viewers on a down ratings week. For comparison,ย The Walkingย Dead‘sย spinoffย seriesย Fear the Walking Deadย wasย renewed for a fourth season while earning about four million viewers on an up week.

Kirkman’s New Deal

The news of the lawsuit comes just days after Kirkmanย penned a new deal with Amazonย to launch new Skyboundย titles on the streaming service.

Kirkmanย andย Skyboundย will develop new television series to debut exclusive on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service. Bryan and Seanย Furst,ย Skyboundย Entertainment’s co-presidents of film and television, will oversee the Amazon project slate, along withย Kirkmanย andย Skyboundย co-founder andย The Walking Deadย co-executive producer David Alpert.

“Robert is a gifted storyteller who shares our passion for elevated genre storytelling that pushes boundaries,” said Sharonย Talย Yguado, head of event series for Amazon Studios. “Robert and the team atย Skyboundย are some of the most innovative and fearlessย creativesย in the business. Together, we plan to exploreย immersiveย worlds and bold ideas for Prime Video.”

Outside ofย Kirkman’sย best known work withย The Walking Deadย in both comics and onย AMC, the writer has crafted some other popular titles withย Skyboundย and Image Comics. Among them areย Invincibleย (which has a movie in development from Sethย Roganย and Ian Goldberg),ย Outcastย (which became a TV series onย Cinemax), and theย Walking Deadย spin-off seriesย Fear the Walking Dead.

“Atย Skyboundย Entertainment we strive to tell the best stories in the most unique and creative ways in an effort to always break new ground,” saidย Kirkman. “A forward thinking company like Amazon is the perfect home for us. Their new foray into genre fiction has us at peak optimism for what can be accomplished during this unprecedented partnership. Sharonย Talย Yguadoย has been an instrumental force in the success ofย Walking Deadย andย Outcastย from day one. Being able to not only continue that relationship, but also expand it into new territory with the vast resources of Amazon, means great things are ahead for myself, David Alpert,ย Skyboundย and fans of awesome entertainment. Look out world, here we come!”

Sitting It Out

Sitting out The Walking Dead lawsuit are executive producer Greg Nicotero and showrunner Scott Gimple.ย 

Nicotero was with the AMC series in its earliest days, serving as a VFXย supervisor, and would direct his first episode in the show’s second season. He was bumped up to executive producer in the same season.

Gimpleย stepped in as showrunnerย on the AMCย series following Mazarra’sย exit for the show’sย Season 4 premiere, which happened to be directed by Nicotero. Gimpleย also joined the sibling series Fear the Walking Dead as an executive producer for its fourth season.ย 

More Walking Dead

The Walkingย Dead‘s sibling seriesย Fearย the Walkingย Deadย returns September 10th.ย The Walking Deadย will return for its eighth season on October 22, 2017. The Season Eight premiere will mark 100 episodes overall for the popularย AMCย series. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, followย @BrandonDavisBDย on Twitter.