DRC Congratulates AMC Networks and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP for a Resounding Victory in the Walking Dead Contract Dispute
July 23, 2020
DRC congratulates Orin Snyder, Scott Edelman, Brian Ascher, Ilissa Samplin, and the entire Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher trial team on their total defense victory in Kirkman, et al., v. AMC Film Holdings LLC, et al., No. BC672124 (Cal. Super., L.A. Cnty.), a contract dispute over contingent compensation for the hit AMC TV show The Walking Dead.
The Plaintiffs, Robert Kirkman, an executive producer and the creator of the comic book series on which the show was based, and executive producers, David Alpert and Gale Anne Hurd, claimed that the Defendants, AMC Film Holdings, LLC, AMC Network Entertainment, LLC, and AMC Networks Inc., exploited their vertically integrated corporate structure to reduce the contingent compensation owed to the show’s profit participants. The Plaintiffs alleged they were owed hundreds of millions of dollars in additional compensation for their work on The Walking Dead.
In early 2020, a bench trial was conducted before the Honorable Daniel J. Buckley, in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County, to adjudicate seven key issues relating to the interpretation of the underlying contracts. Judge Buckley found in favor of AMC on all seven issues, including finding that the contracts Plaintiffs entered into with AMC were unambiguous and binding. The Court stated, “[T]he contingent compensation terms at the heart of this case were thoroughly negotiated and this is not a case where one party imposed contract terms on the other.” To make this determination, the Court adopted the Defense’s position that Plaintiffs were attempting to rewrite the contract terms that had been bargained for by their “sophisticated and experienced talent lawyers.” Judge Buckley’s decision also supported the Defense’s position that AMC honored its contracts and paid Mr. Kirkman and the other Plaintiffs what they were owed. Judge Buckley has ordered the case to proceed to a full trial on the merits based on his decisions with regard to the interpretation of the contracts.
A related case, Frank Darabont, et al., v. AMC Network Entertainment LLC, et al., 654326/2013, is currently pending in New York County Supreme Court, in which the same contract terms are in dispute.
DRC assisted the trial team with trial strategy, focus groups, witness preparation, and demonstrative aids.
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