It’s a phenomenon that has no doubt captured the attention of many New York business people: the rise of quality television programming over the past few years. Many award-winning shows are available for viewing both on traditional television and on-demand streaming. With all the awards and viewers come big revenues and big disagreements over who should get those revenues and how much they should get. A good example of this is a contract dispute that reached the courts of the Empire State.
The plaintiffs in the dispute are members of the creative team behind the hit TV show “The Walking Dead.” They say that the entertainment conglomerate AMC has exploited its corporate structure to unfairly deny the profits from the show to the creative team. The plaintiffs allege that this constitutes a breach of contract. The lawsuit was filed in New York state court a few weeks ago. The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a contract dispute that has been ongoing since 2013.
AMC has indicated that it does not think the lawsuit has any merit. They said that it was fairly common for such lawsuits to follow in the wake of a successful show such as “The Walking Dead.” They described the lawsuit as baseless and opportunistic.
Perhaps a Manhattan business person knows the feeling when another party to a contract decides not to honor its commitments. Alternatively, when something is successful, lawsuits often follow, and those lawsuits don’t always have much merit. Regardless of what kind of contractual dispute New York business people find themselves in, it can be a great idea to have experienced breach of contract attorneys at their side when navigating this kind of situation.
Source: Deadline, “‘The Walking Dead’ EPs Promise To Be “Partners” With AMC As They Sue Cabler In NY Over Profits – Update,” Dominic Patten, Aug. 15, 2017