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Thread: Former 'Walking Dead' Showrunner Frank Darabont Sues AMC

  1. #1
    Dead Mr. Clean's Avatar
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    Former 'Walking Dead' Showrunner Frank Darabont Sues AMC

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...tml?ref=topbar


    It looks like zombies aren't the only things in "The Walking Dead" to watch out for.


    Frank Darabont, the original showrunner for AMC's monster hit series, has filed a lawsuit against the cable channel for denying him “tens of millions of dollars of profits,” reports Entertainment Weekly.


    “The within action arises out of the unabated effort of a television conglomerate (AMC) to deprive Frank Darabont -- the artist who created, wrote, directed, and produced the television series 'The Walking Dead' -- of his contractual entitlement to profits from the series," read the lawsuit Darabont filed with his talent agency CAA.



    The zombie series has had its fair share of behind-the-scenes drama. Not only was Darabont given the boot from AMC, but Glen Mazzara, the showrunner after him was also fired after season 3.


    AMC has not yet made a comment about the lawsuit.

  2. #2
    Team Rick MinionZombie's Avatar
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    I wish there weren't these behind the scenes problems with TWD. It seems that 99% of the time it's all fine and dandy and everyone gets on famously with each other on the production itself, but anytime there's a problem, it's always some boardroom entity from AMC sticking their boots in.

    I hope Darabont finds peace with this ordeal soon. I read that he likened it to having a bad break up with someone you adored and that he hasn't watched the show since he was shoved out (understandably) ... however, sadly, this sort of practice doesn't seem to be in the slightest bit rare in film and TV, in America at least. Kevin Smith had to get the lawyers involved with the Weinstein Company to sort out the finances over Clerks 2 (in order to proceed with Clerks 3, as the stars still hadn't received their contracted payments years later!) ... apparently the film hadn't made any money, and then, lo-and-behold, as soon as a financial lawyer had a poke around it had done just fine and the finances were finally sorted out. I recall Smith saying that he was told that, essentially, in Hollywood everyone's investigating everyone else over financial issues ... how daft is that? Sort it out, Hollywood.

    Similar sort of thing here by the sounds of it. AMC really need to sort this kind of shit out - they're getting (or already have) a very bad reputation at the boardroom level. All the praise they get is because of the creative people they hire. The showrunners and stars are the ones who get the praise (and rightly so) - you never hear someone adoring some suited-up bell-end hidden away in AMC towers. It just seems so bizarre that they seem intent on picking a fight with all their most successful shows - Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead - they've all had behind-the-scenes troubles with AMC, meanwhile within the productions themselves they all seem to do pretty darn well and you get a strong sense of a family atmosphere among the cast and crew (TWD and Breaking Bad particularly).

    I just don't buy that TWD is operating, as claimed, at '$45m in the red', as I saw in another article yesterday. How on earth can such a wildly successful show be doing so poorly financially? Smells like bollocks.

    It must suck to be involved on the show when this sort of stuff is flying around ... really putting a horrible smudge on an otherwise rewarding experience. If the production is a family, it'd kind of be like their parents (Darabont and AMC) having a messy divorce.

    I'd like this kind of corporate penny pinching to stop - there's enough money to go around for everyone to get rich, particularly if they've been contracted to receive a particular payment. Just cut out the bullshit and honour what's written and signed on the contract and avoid all the drama and expensive lawyers.

    I recall there was a bit of a bust up a while back between Peter Jackson and New Line over royalties. PJ hadn't been paid what his contract stated, and IIRC, New Line's defence was 'he's made enough as it is' ... well I don't care about the amount, it's about what's been contracted to be paid to the creatives. This kind of thing seems to be a large problem in the industry that's just getting bigger and bigger.

    Anyway ... I guess we'll just have to wait and see what all comes from it eventually, particularly with AMC having not made a statement yet.
    Last edited by MinionZombie; 19-Dec-2013 at 10:10 AM.

  3. #3
    through another dimension bassman's Avatar
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    As the article suggests, these things are usually settled out of court.

    I hope Darabont gets what he deserves. AMC has been notorious for trying to screw over their shows and the creators. The creators of both Mad Men and Breaking Bad have had similar problems in the past. Vince Gilligan even almost took Breaking Bad(owned separately by Sony Television) to another network for the final season. AMC eventually agreed to his terms as long as they could split the final season up to make it last two years.

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    Team Rick MinionZombie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bassman View Post
    As the article suggests, these things are usually settled out of court.

    I hope Darabont gets what he deserves. AMC has been notorious for trying to screw over their shows and the creators. The creators of both Mad Men and Breaking Bad have had similar problems in the past. Vince Gilligan even almost took Breaking Bad(owned separately by Sony Television) to another network for the final season. AMC eventually agreed to his terms as long as they could split the final season up to make it last two years.
    Mmmm ... it seems you get a bit more power against the channel if you're producing it outside of them. I see that Mad Men's final season is also being split across two friggin' years ... 7 and 7.

    I had read that part of it was also seeking money in relation to Talking Dead and the up-coming spin off (neither of which would exist without TWD) ... although I kinda wonder if those are intentional bargaining chips. Say you want "that this and this" when in truth you're really just going after "that". Darabont certainly deserves to have his contract honoured, he put in a lot of graft long before AMC showed up to birth the show we all love so much.

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    Rising rongravy's Avatar
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    This, and I heard something about flooding slowing the show down or something?!?
    So many problems...

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    Just been bitten zomtom's Avatar
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    I heard about this yesterday and wasn't the least bit surprised. Darabont got screwed over by AMC. I don't think anyone can deny that. I hope this works out for him, but in the same regard, I also hope it doesn't mess with our show.

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    through another dimension bassman's Avatar
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    AMC Slams “Ill- Conceived” ‘Walking Dead’ Lawsuit From Frank Darabont & CAA

    By DOMINIC PATTEN 22 hours ago



    It’s not quite the blood and gore of the zombie apocalypse, but today the legal battle between AMC and original The Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont and CAA got more a lot more biting. “Doubling down on their ill-conceived theory of the case, Plaintiffs now seek to use discovery to conduct a fishing expedition through the files of Defendants, a television network, two television studios, and a parent company, to obtain access to highly sensitive proprietary and confidential information that bears no relevance to Plaintiffs’ claims, including highly confidential and proprietary information relating to television shows other than the one at issue, The Walking Dead,” said AMC today in a scathing letter (read it here) to a NY Supreme Court judge. The letter is the latest salvo in the on-going case first filed by Darabont and CAA in a December 17 complaint. The plaintiffs allege that they were scammed out of contractually assured profits from the blockbuster series and that AMC played a “self-dealing” artificially low license-fee shell game with the show based on Robert Kirkman’s graphic novels. AMC, of course, says that’s not the case.


    Of course, all that could become irrelevant or at least secondary very soon. “Contracts are not screenplays,” said AMC’s attorney Marc E. Kasowitz with some rhetorical flourish in this most recent letter. “The law does not permit them to be unilaterally rewritten simply because one party dislikes the ending. Yet, that is precisely what Plaintiffs seek in this action.” Once again rejecting Darabont and CAA’s contentions of self-dealing and low license fees in their original complaint last year, the cable station also revealed to no great surprise that they plan to file a motion for summary judgment for liability soon. AMC also let slip that they paid Darabont “close to $3 million” for his work on WD Seasons 1 & 2 before canning him from the show he developed back in late July 2011.

    While the case has been grinding through the courts and AMC replied to the claims with a terse 10-point reply in late February rejecting the complaint, today’s 9-page letter represents a new level of trench warfare between the parties. The letter comes as a response to a previous letter to Judge Eileen Bransten from the plaintiffs earlier this month seeking a conference over a disputed confidentiality order (read it here). The cable station today says it shouldn’t have to hand over any docs with info “about the total revenue from all programming -not just The Walking Dead -that AMC Channel receives from cable and satellite providers, documents concerning advertising revenues received by AMC Channel that Plaintiffs admit are expressly excluded from the calculation of any contingent compensation due them, license agreements regarding the television series such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men, and general ‘projections, business plans, profit and loss statements, Nielsen ratings, and forecasts’ of Defendants.”

    That said, at their core of today’s correspondence is AMC’s objection to “two third-party attorneys whose knowledge of AMC’s highly confidential information would place AMC at an unfair and unjustified competitive disadvantage in future business negotiations.” Everything else concerning a protective order is worked out. The lawyers in question are Alan Wertheimer and Robert Getman of Jackoway, Tyreman, Wertheimer, Austen, Mandelbaum, Morris & Klein, who Darabont and CAA have brought on since filing their initial complaint. Having repped Darabont for years, Wertheimer has also handled legal matters for the likes of JJ Abrams while Getman has taken care of Boardwalk Empire creator and Wolf Of Wall Street scribe Terence Winter.
    “Providing these individuals with access to AMC’s most sensitive financial and proprietary trade information would put AMC at a significant competitive disadvantage in any deal negotiations involving clients represented by Mr. Wertheimer and Mr. Getman,” said AMC today of the entertainment lawyers. AMC want confidential docs limited to just “litigation counsel and attorneys employed by the parties who are providing legal advice in connection with this case.” Darabont and CAA want all of their team to be able to take a look.
    Judge Bransten could make a call on this by issuing a standard confidentiality order or by compelling the parties to reach a deal so discovery can move forward. Either way, at this rate, Season 5 of The Walking Dead could have come and gone before this case is resolved.
    Kasowitz, Aaron Marks, John Berlinski and Mansi Shah of NYC firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP are representing AMC in the case. Darabont and CAA are represented by Jerry Bernstein and Harris Cogan of NYC firm Blank Rome LLP along with Dale Kinsella plus Aaron Liskin and Chad Fitzgerald of powerhouse Santa Monica firm Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kemp & Aldisert LLP.
    I still say this will likely be settled out of court. That way Darabont gets what he's owed and AMC can pretend to be innocent....

  8. #8
    Twitching
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    Dunno,
    AMC sounds like they know they're on paper-thin ice, what with their ludicrous motion seeking to deny Darabont's attorneys access to (among other things) Profit and Loss Statements! Umm HELLO, what could POSSIBLY be more probative to the case than financial documents which determine exactly what AMC's gains from TWD have been? It's directly pertinent to the contract dispute.

    I don't believe AMC is delusional enough to believe a judge will actually deny Darabont's crew such directly pertinent financial info. WHEN (not IF) said judge punctures said delusion, AMC will either a) Immediately fold and settle, or b) Dig in and wage a quixotic battle-to-the-financial-death in an attempt to make some sort of point to other entities they've dealt with in a shoddy manner who may be considering litigation. It's a crapshoot at this juncture IMO.

  9. #9
    Dead facestabber's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wyldwraith View Post
    Dunno,
    AMC sounds like they know they're on paper-thin ice, what with their ludicrous motion seeking to deny Darabont's attorneys access to (among other things) Profit and Loss Statements! Umm HELLO, what could POSSIBLY be more probative to the case than financial documents which determine exactly what AMC's gains from TWD have been? It's directly pertinent to the contract dispute.

    I don't believe AMC is delusional enough to believe a judge will actually deny Darabont's crew such directly pertinent financial info. WHEN (not IF) said judge punctures said delusion, AMC will either a) Immediately fold and settle, or b) Dig in and wage a quixotic battle-to-the-financial-death in an attempt to make some sort of point to other entities they've dealt with in a shoddy manner who may be considering litigation. It's a crapshoot at this juncture IMO.
    Wow Wylde had returned!!! Though I have been a tad busy myself. Enjoying the heck out of the Dead White and Blue marathon. Though I'm happy with Gimple I would have really loved to see Durabont's vision continued. AMC has some damn questionable heads behind the scenes. That fact scares me considering they have control over my favorite and only loyal show of mine.

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