After his credit card was declined during a recent visit to the Hideous Button-Shirt Store, The Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont checked his bank statement, and noticed millions missing. That’s because AMC never paid him what he’s due, at least according to Darabont and the skin-peeling monsters known as his lawyers in a lawsuit that’s so huge, the Hollywood Reporter uses both “slapped” AND “bombshell” in the first sentence.
“AMC’s conduct toward Frank to date has been nothing short of atrocious,” [said] Darbont’s lawyer Dale Kinsella. “Unfortunately, the fans of The Walking Dead have suffered as well by being deprived of his creative talent.”
Court papers assert that Darabont and his agents at CAA…have not received even one dollar from his promised profit participation in the mega-hit series. The suit says that as of September 2012, two years after its premiere, AMC — which both produces and airs Walking Dead — claimed the show was running a deficit of $49 million. An alleged sweetheart deal between the network and its production arm “is clearly designed to ensure that [Darabont and CAA] never see that first dollar,” the complaint alleges. (Via)
To shut Darabont up, AMC will take a cool $20 million out of their rainy day fund and settle out of court. Mad Men doesn’t really need to use another Beatles song, anyway.
(via Getty Image, via Hollywood Reporter)
