Although AMC has promised a fifth season of the acclaimed “Mad Men,” the show’s creator and head writer, Matthew Weiner, still hasn’t been signed to a new contract because AMC and Lionsgate are squabbling over who will pay to produce the show. EW’s Inside TV spoke to Weiner at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday:
“I am not looking for a new job. I’m dying to go back to work,” Weiner [said]. “But the truth is I don’t even know what their plans are. We have not started writing. I am not back at work. My contract expired. They are fighting over a very lucrative property, and who is going to pay for it to get made; it’s one of the biggest perils of success — everyone wants a piece of it now and they are fighting over who is gonna get the biggest chunk. Then they will come to me because talent is last. It would be heartbreaking for me if they don’t work it out, horrifying really. It would be a shame for fans to never get to see what great stuff we have planned for Don and company.”
Listen up, AMC. You better get the talent under contract, and fast. I’m gonna be awfully butt-hurt if I don’t get my weekly dose of Weiner and Hamm!