Dayum...Kirkman sues AMC.
What Robert Kirkman's Lawsuit Against AMC Could Mean For The Future Of 'The Walking Dead'
Sept. 10, 2017
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkai.../#1c9579f0421d
In the past few weeks, AMC has been hit with two pretty major blows by the creator of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman.
The first came when Kirkman and his company Skybound Entertainment signed a deal with Amazon, making Amazon Video the new home to any new shows Kirkman and his team dream up.
Then, this Monday, we learned that Kirkman as well as series producers Glen Mazzara, David Alpert and Gale Anne Hurd are suing AMC, stating that they're not receiving a fair share of the show's massive profits.
The suit isn't the first leveled at AMC over the show. The Walking Dead co-creator Frank Darabont sued AMC over unfair compensation after he was fired in Season 2.
At the heart of this latest suit is what's known as 'vertical integration' in the TV business. Traditionally, two parties create and air a television show. A studio creates the content and signs a deal with a cable or network channel to air it, with a cut of the licensing fees going to creators and talent.
This used to be enshrined in FCC regulations set up in the 1970s, but those rules were overturned by Bill Clinton after industry lobbyists pressured the president to deregulate.
Now, for instance, AMC Studios can produces the shows that air on AMC Network. This is what's happened with The Walking Dead. In a more traditional situation, the studio and the network would negotiate, ultimately working out licensing fees that both sides (hopefully) believed fair.
In the case of The Walking Dead, however, AMC was effectively negotiating with itself. The lawsuit alleges that the company ended up lowballing the fees, ultimately taking money from the creators' pockets in the process.
"There can be no question that, if AMC Studios and AMC Network were not part of the same conglomerate, the story would be very different," the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit points out that shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, which were made by non-AMC owned studios, ended up negotiating higher fees than The Walking Dead. For example, Lionsgate was earning $4 million per episode of Mad Men by the end of its run, whereas the much more popular Walking Dead is only paying $1.87 to $2.4 million per episode now, which is not much more than the $1.45 million per episode way back in Season 1.
But AMC calls the lawsuit baseless:
“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 #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."