Frank Darabont, the ex-showrunner of the hit zombie series "The Walking Dead", recently had some straightforward words for AMC executives. He accused them of cutting the show's budget, ignoring the hard work of the cast and crew, and rarely showing up to the set under his watch.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Frank Darabont, former creator for "The Walking Dead", alleged AMC for its "habit" of treating its employees poorly. Darabont also shared some details regarding his experience with the network in a revealing lawsuit against AMC. The former showrunner detailed his experience with the network, explaining the poor treatment started way before his sudden termination in 2011.
The Hollywood Reporter reported on Thursday that Darabont claimed that the AMC executives reduced his profit sharing during the season two of the hit TV series after he was terminated. And in turn, AMC fundamentally "stole" tens of millions of dollars from him.
The reduction in profit sharing was not the only problem he listed in the lawsuit. The Washington Post claimed that despite the show's huge fan base, the show has struggled with harsh budget cuts.
Darabont believed that this had affected the show's integrity. He also revealed that the network cut the budget by 20 percent, which made it very difficult to create the zombie primetime drama. The former creator, additionally explained reducing the budget by $200 thousand made it extremely impossible to keep up with the structural integrity of the show.
Because of these complaints, he filed his lawsuit against AMC in December of 2013, citing breach in a contract and cheating him out of millions in profit sharing. He claimed that in a conversation he had with the AMC executives, they were not concerned with the success of the TV series.
In fact, he added that they wanted to reduce the show's budget from $3.4 million per episode for production to $3 million. Darabont also admitted that he tried to approach the executives about the budget cuts and asked if they could find the money to keep up with the zombie TV series' budget.
He claimed that in no uncertain terms, because of the situation, he had to reduce his staffing and production costs in accordance with the new budget. He recalled AMC executives told him about the budget change in a cold, matter-of-fact- tone.
For now, Darabont's lawyers argue that the plaintiff did vest in the profit participation in the show. However, the spokesman for AMC claimed that the Court was legally bound to accept Darabont's factual assertions as true, and for that the standard for dismissal at this stage becomes high.
