Several producers of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” series have filed a new $200 million lawsuit against AMC Networks to recover profits from the hit series and its spinoffs.
Producers Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Charles Eglee and Glenn Mazzara have renewed their previous 2017 claims in Los Angeles Superior Court in which they sued the network for $200 million over breach of contract.
This time however, they claim that AMC Networks’ $200 million settlement in 2021 with the show’s creator Frank Darabont and CAA, his agency, entitles them to similar treatment. Their attorney’s statement reads:
“On the one hand, AMC tells them they are entitled to nothing based on erroneous pre-trial rulings which are subject to appeal, while AMC paid $200 million to Frank Darabont and CAA to avoid a New York jury’s review of the exact same contingent compensation definition.
Instead of giving Plaintiffs the benefit of the Darabont settlement as required by the express terms of their contracts, AMC’s creative activity these days seems limited to figuring out new ways to mistreat the talent that is responsible for its now past success.”
A judge ruled in favor of AMC Networks in July 2020. The producers revised the lawsuit in May 2021, but most of their case was dismissed in April this year.
Orin Snyder, attorney for AMC Networks, says in a statement: “This is just another crass money grab. We are confident it will fail, as their previous attempts have failed.”
Darabont and CAA first sued AMC Networks in 2013 after he was dismissed from the show, claiming the network has been engaged in “the improper and abusive practice of ‘self-dealing’.”
Source: The Los Angeles Times
