AMC Networks pay $200 mn to Frank Darabont and CAA in The Walking Dead settlement  

A settlement of $200 million has been reached between the AMC Networks with Frank Darabont and CAA in The Walking Dead profit participation lawsuit. This was disclosed on Friday, 16 July in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing by AMC Networks. According to a report in Variety, Darabont and CAA will also continue to get profits from all the streaming deals for The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, however, the rights of the plaintiff have been bought out for any other content related to The Walking Dead. As per the original contract, Darabont and CAA will receive $57 million worth of profit participation revenue. This is also a part of the $200 million settlement. The lawsuit was filed by Darabont who was the writer-director of the show after he was dismissed by AMC in 2013. The publication further reports that CAA had also made a claim as they were the representatives of Darabont. They were the agency that packaged TWD series. Deadline reports that a trial for the case was previously scheduled to start in April 2022 after it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. There were also rumours for the last couple of months that AMC is in talks with the plaintiffs. Not only CAA and Darabont, the publication reports that other executive producers and creators of The Walking Dead Robert Kirkman and Gale Anne Hurd have also alleged that they were cheated out of the big profits made through the show. Previously, AMC Networks executives said that they expected free cash flow of $200 million in 2021 during their first-quarter earnings call with the Wall Street analysts. However, after the settlement, AMC now expects that free cash flow will be at break-even. On 22 August, the last season of TWD series is going to be released. This will be the 11th season of the series.