The announcement that Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment would be leaving AMC for Amazon is a little less surprising, after it was reported yesterday that he and other producers from The Walking Dead are suing AMC for profit scamming. In a suit that could reach up to $1 billion dollars in damages, Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Glen Mazzara, and David Alpert are alleging that AMC has cheated the producers out of massive profits through shady licensing. The news came after Kirkman had just reassured fans on Twitter about his continuing relationship with AMC, yesterday morning.
Part of the complaint reads, “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.” It goes on to compare and contrast the licensing deals and fee payouts for other popular AMC shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad. The full complaint can be read here (PDF download warning). The formal claims are breach of contract, tortious interference, and unfair fraudulent business acts under California business code.
AMC has not filed a formal response, but a spokesperson said, “These kinds of lawsuits are fairly common in entertainment and they all have one thing in common — they follow success. Virtually every studio that has had a successful show has been the target of litigation like this, and The Walking Dead has been the No. 1 show on television for five years in a row, so this is no surprise. We have enormous respect and appreciation for these plaintiffs, and we will continue to work with them as partners, even as we vigorously defend against this baseless and predictably opportunistic lawsuit.”
This new lawsuit follows one filed in 2013 by The Walking Dead‘s other co-creator Frank Darabont, who was fired as executive producer in the middle of the show’s second season. He also alleged that AMC was not paying him fairly, and is seeking damages of $280 million. That suit has finally reached the summary judgment phase.
