AMC has been sued over its dealing with of revenue payouts for Concern the Strolling Useless by creator Dave Erickson, who accuses the community of breach of contract for shortchanging him backend funds.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in California state courtroom, challenges the construction by means of which Erickson’s earnings for the collection is calculated, alleging he’s not on equal footing as different members. His newest assertion reveals a $185 million deficit, primarily making it unattainable for him to interrupt even, in keeping with the criticism.
The case opens a brand new chapter in labyrinthine litigation involving The Strolling Useless that’s put a highlight on AMC’s accounting practices, dealings with expertise and conflicts of curiosity that come up with vertical integration when the producer of a TV present additionally distributes it by way of an affiliated entity that pays a license charge. Erickson seeks a courtroom order modifying his backend fee system, plus unspecified damages.
“Dave Erickson created a large hit for AMC in Concern the Strolling Useless, increasing The Strolling Useless Universe and cementing AMC because the zombie community,” Aaron Liskin and Nick Soltman, legal professionals for the showrunner, inform The Hollywood Reporter. Regardless of the present’s “extraordinary success, Mr. Erickson has not obtained a single greenback in earnings from AMC and, absent this motion, he by no means will.”
Concern the Strolling Useless made cable historical past in 2015 when it premiered to 10.1 million viewers. It remained a rankings juggernaut throughout its first season run, with some episodes topping Sunday Evening Soccer. The three seasons wherein Erickson was the showrunner had been by far probably the most watched within the collection. It possible cleared lots of of tens of millions {dollars} in gross receipts.
However the lawsuit says that Erickson hasn’t seen any cash from his revenue participation within the present. Whereas AMC represented to him that the collection is operating a nine-figure deficit as of 2025, greater than a decade after its premiere, his assertion confirmed that no less than $49 million has been paid to different unnamed members, the criticism claims.
The lawsuit nods to an extended line of instances over earnings for The Strolling Useless. In 2021, AMC reached a $200 million settlement with Frank Darabont, but it surely raised a query that’s change into a authorized headache for the community since: Did the deal set off so-called most favored nations clauses, which ensures equal therapy if one other occasion negotiates higher phrases, held by creator Robert Kirkman and different govt producers?
Like that ongoing case, Erickson argues that AMC is breaching his contract by declining to enhance his definition for one thing referred to as “modified adjusted gross receipts” (MAGR), a type of income minus sure prices. When his representatives requested AMC Studios head of enterprise affairs Scott Stein concerning the problem, the manager acknowledged that Erickson would get the “absolute best definition,” together with any alterations granted to different expertise, the lawsuit says.
“We nonetheless want to barter enhancements to the backend definition,” Erickson’s reps wrote in a 2016 electronic mail to Stein, in keeping with the criticism. “You had been going to tell us the variations between Dave’s present definition and the very best definitions you’ve given others.”
Stein replied, “I’ll assessment and suggest these modifications once I begin drafting this up if we’re attending to a decision.” The exec conceded on this change that Erickson would profit from any modifications given to revenue members, the lawsuit argues.
The litigation has been brewing for years. A 2021 assertion confirmed that roughly $14 million had already been paid out to different backend members, which means that their statements must present earnings of over $80 million, in keeping with the criticism. “Merely put, Erickson was being accounted to as if he had the worst doable definition for successful present within the historical past of tv,” Liskin writes. As of 2025, no less than $49 million in earnings have been paid out.
It’s believed govt producers Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert, plus Kirkman, all obtained enhancements that elevated their backend payouts over the course of the present’s eight season run. Erickson is in search of a courtroom order that will pressure AMC, which didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, to place him on equal footing.
By the showrunner’s considering, AMC purposely withheld specifying the precise phrases of his revenue participation, with the intent of crafting it in order that he’d by no means break even. This tracks with allegations from Darabont and Kirkman, each of whom mentioned that AMC waited to see how the present would carry out to spell out the phrases underneath its unilateral proper to construction MAGR.
“AMC was constructing the aircraft whereas flying it,” Soltman says. They love ready to see if a present is successful to supply the definition. Then, they know they’re strolling you right into a deficit.”
Additionally at problem: alleged self-dealing underneath an imputed license charge, which is meant to supply sensible, market-rate worth in dealings involving a father or mother firm and affiliated entity with the intention to replicate what the present would get if it had been made by an impartial studio. AMC put a cap on the imputed charge however not the corresponding prices, which turned costlier because the collection continued, in a means that foreclosed any risk of Erickson realizing backend funds, in keeping with the criticism.
The upshot, “AMC’s failure to supply a MAGR definition, till after it created its new streaming service, after which attributing such exploitation to the imputed charge, is additional proof of AMC’s dangerous religion and efforts to make the series-creators’ revenue participation meaningless,” the lawsuit says.
Erickson, who brings claims for breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of the implied covenant of fine religion and truthful dealing, is represented by Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir, a powerhouse plaintiff-side revenue participation regulation agency that represented Darabont in his lawsuit in opposition to AMC.