'Walking Dead' Creator to AMC: "I'll cremate you in court!"

[Fnord]

The creator of "The Walking Dead" -- one of the most popular shows on TV -- wants his pound of flesh from AMC -- to the tune of TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

Frank Darabont was the mastermind who adapted the popular comic book into a series back in 2009.  He claims in his suit he would get 12.5% of the profits, but he claims AMC unceremoniously fired him in 2011 and he hasn't received a penny.

Here's what he says is especially galling.  The show is a juggernaut, sometimes even beating Sunday Night Football.  Yet AMC tells him the show is operating at a deficit.  Darabont says AMC has outright defrauded him by producing and distributing the show to itself and essentially cooking the books to screw him out of his share.

What really pisses him off ... Darabont says the creator of "Mad Men" -- which also airs on AMC -- gets a huge cut of a $3 million fee PER EPISODE, even though "Mad Men" gets less than 1/4 of the viewership of "The Walking Dead."

Darabont wants 10s of millions of dollars.  And this is kinda funny.  He also wants a cut of "The Talking Dead," the talk show that follows each episode.

Source: TMZ

[Chris Shields]

Man Men also most likely cost a lot less to produce, and it's creator probably isn't a fucking douchebag. Seriously, everything I've ever seen, heard, or read about Darabont, he seems like a complete and total asshole. I wouldn't be surprised if this show costs them a shit ton of money to produce. I only watched the first few episodes (I couldn't get into it at all. If you like it, that's fine, but don't tell me "Oh it gets so good, you just have to keep watching", because I'll just tell you to shut the fuck up.) but I remember there being several locations used as well as all the makeup, prosthetics, etc., that stuff cost money, plus you're having to pay the artist, and extras do actually get paid money (it's a base pay for the day, but when you have 30 freaking people all making that base pay, it racks up). The fact that he's demanding money from the post show talk show, that just seals the fact that he's a doucher.

[Alex Smiley]

I love this show, but yeah this is kinda out there. Viewership doesn't necessarily mean the show's making a TON of money, unless there's proof of huge merch sales etc.

I'm with Shields about the post show, though. Asking for money off of something like that just seems...eh.