AMC settles Frank Darabont's The Walking Dead lawsuit for $200 million

The Hollywood Reporter

AMC Networks agreed to end Darabont and his agency CAA's long-running battle over The Walking Dead profits with a $200 million payout. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker created the AMC adaption and served as showrunner for its first season. He departed the series after Season 1 following disagreements with AMC. "Darabont first sued in 2013, and the battle eventually spawned a spinoff in 2018," explains The Hollywood Reporter's Ashley Cullins. "He and CAA claim the network had used shady accounting to short them on profits. The fight largely examined the dealmaking behind AMC’s hit and centered on how to calculate its net profits. While other hit AMC shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad were produced by other studios, Walking Dead was the first series that AMC both produced and distributed. So this dispute served as a test case on profit sharing and vertical integration, an increasingly relevant issue as self-distributed content is prevalent in the streaming world."