Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in Episode 1 of season 4 of "The Walking Dead.""Walking Dead" creator hasn't gotten "one dollar in profits," his lawsuit saysFrank Darabont accuses AMC of "self-dealing" by charging itself a low license fee"Walking Dead" fee is half that of "Mad Men," but show gets 4 times the viewers, suit saysDarabont developed the TV series from Robert Kirkman's comic book seriesLos Angeles (CNN) -- The creator of the "Walking Dead" television series accuses AMC of cheating him out of millions of dollars in profits from the zombie hit.
AMC, which produces the series, allegedly charged its own cable network an "artificially low" license fee to carry the show, according to a lawsuit filed by Frank Darabont Tuesday."The sole goal of this sham transaction is to enhance the profits of the parent company by minimizing the revenues that go into the 'pool' of funds for the show's profit participants," the complaint said.Frank Darabont worked for years to develop the television series from Robert Kirkman's comic book series, the lawsuit said. It became a "monumental hit" for AMC when it debuted in 2010, it said.if (typeof cnnArticleGallery == "undefined") {var cnnArticleGallery = {};}if(typeof cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList =="undefined"){cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList = [];}var expGallery51=new ArticleExpandableGallery();expGallery51.setImageCount(11);//cnn_adbptrackpgalimg("Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'", 1);
Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) turned on his best friend, Rick Grimes, and lured him into the woods, apparently with plans to kill him and steal Rick's wife, Lori. Rick stabbed Shane, but he came back as a zombie, and Rick's son Carl had to shoot Shane to put him down.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":2,"title":"Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'"} 
T-Dog (IronE Singleton) was bitten helping Carol escape zombies at the prison.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":3,"title":"Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'"} 
Dale Horvath (Jeffrey DeMunn) was killed by a zombie.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":4,"title":"Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'"} 
Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies) died during childbirth. Her son, Carl, apparently shot her (heard, but not seen on camera) to prevent her from becoming a zombie.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":5,"title":"Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'"} 
Sophia Peletier (Madison Lintz) got lost in the woods. She later turned up as a zombie locked in the barn on Hershel Greene's farm. Sheriff Rick Grimes shot her in the head to finish her off.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":6,"title":"Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'"} 
Amy (Emma Bell) was bitten by a zombie. Her sister, Andrea, had to put her down after she revived as a zombie.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":7,"title":"Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'"} 
Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker) was killed by the Governor, reanimated as a zombie and put down by his brother, Daryl, who stabbed him multiple times.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":8,"title":"Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'"} 
Andrea (Laurie Holden) was bitten by Milton, who became a zombie after being stabbed by the Governor. She shot herself so she wouldn't become a zombie. This was heard off camera but not seen.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":9,"title":"Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'"} 
In one of the show's most heartbreaking losses, Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) was decapitated and killed by the Governor.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":10,"title":"Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'"} 
After being stabbed by Michonne, the Governor (David Morrissey) was shot to death by Lilly.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":11,"title":"Key characters killed on \'Walking Dead\'"} Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead'
Key characters killed on 'Walking Dead' "Despite four seasons of unprecedented programming success and profitability for defendants, Darabont has not received and may never receive one dollar in profits for developing the series," the suit said.Darabont, who wrote, directed and produced the first season, was fired by AMC during the second season. The lawsuit contends he was replaced as the showrunner so that AMC could avoid negotiating a new deal with him.AMC and its lawyers did not immediately respond to the court filing.Darabont's complaint points to the difference between the fee AMC charges its own company for each "Walking Dead" episode compared to the license fee paid to a third party for the AMC series "Mad Men" as evidence of the company's "improper and abusive practice of 'self-dealing.'"The "Mad Men" production company gets $3 million per episode from AMC, while the fee is just $1.45 million per "Walking Dead" episode. The drama about a 1960s New York ad agency draws just 25% of the audience that the series about the survivors of a zombie apocalypse gets, the lawsuit said.Darabont and CAA -- the Hollywood talent agency that helped him pitch the show to AMC -- have been deprived of "tens of millions of dollars of profits from the series," the suit said. The contract provides that they get a total of 20% of the "Modified Adjusted Gross Receipts," which is a pool of all the money brought in by the production with the production costs subtracted."License fees can be manipulated, however, when the entity producing the show and the entity broadcasting it are controlled by the same parent company, or where the network owns and/or controls the production company," the complaint said.After two years, the accounting claimed a $55 million deficit in the pool, the lawsuit said. AMC paid itself nearly $49 million in license fees, but production costs totaled $104.5 million, the suit said. The deficit grows with each season, it said.CNN first learned of the story from Twitter.CNN's Henry Hanks contributed to this report./* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({"id" : "cnn_sharebar2","url" : "http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/18/showbiz/walking-dead-lawsuit/index.html","title" : "\'Walking Dead\' creator sues AMC over profits from zombie series"});
December 24, 2013 -- Updated 0319 GMT (1119 HKT) 
San Fernando has been dubbed "Christmas Capital of the Philippines" for its Giant Lantern Festival. Here's a glimpse into its celebrations.December 24, 2013 -- Updated 0910 GMT (1710 HKT) 
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Alan Turing, a British code-breaker during World War II, has received a royal pardon nearly 60 years after he committed suicide.December 23, 2013 -- Updated 1435 GMT (2235 HKT) 
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CNN's Gary Tuchman reports anybody can pull off a data heist similar to the one thieves pulled on Target. December 23, 2013 -- Updated 2020 GMT (0420 HKT) 
Music producer Teddy Riley says Beyonce surprise release method sets new standard.December 23, 2013 -- Updated 1653 GMT (0053 HKT) 
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Something was different in 2013. This year, it was individuals who created the most unexpected or dramatic events.December 24, 2013 -- Updated 0431 GMT (1231 HKT) 
Browse through images you don't always see in news reports, taken by CNN teams all around the world.December 24, 2013 -- Updated 1132 GMT (1932 HKT) 
Each day, CNN brings you an image capturing a moment to remember. Look back at the photographs that chronicled 2013.
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Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright star in "House of Cards." The show is up for nine Emmys, including best drama.Netflix's "House of Cards" is up for nine EmmysShow's creator, Beau Willimon, currently at work on season 2"Cards" follows the machinations of a congressman, Francis UnderwoodShow has been a critical and popular success
Beau Willimon is the show runner and primary writer of Netflix's "House of Cards."Willimon: Inspiration is drawn from books like (Robert Caro's LBJ biography and Jeremy Larner's "Nobody Knows"), and other times it's talking to people who worked in that world. I really don't think it's a show about politics at all. It's a show about power. And that power is displayed in our love lives, or our work environments, the way we comport ourselves when randomness brushes up against us.CNN: Francis often says that he prefers power over money. Do you have any personal views on that, given the influence money has in D.C. nowadays?Willimon: There's certainly a lot of overlap, right? To a degree, money is a form of power. But I think the differentiation he's drawing is what the end goal is. For some people the end goal is money. And then you see people like Francis who don't deny the importance of money, but that's not the reason he gets up in the morning. Money is finite, it's limited by a number and what you can buy with it. Power has no limits if you're willing to go far enough in order to get as much of it as you can.CNN: I wanted good things to happen to certain characters. They didn't. I can be a cynic but I guess I want to be an idealist. Is the show cynical?Willimon: I don't consider myself to be a cynic nor the show to be cynical. In fact, Francis Underwood is an optimist. Where I think people mistake his optimism for cynicism is that he's unapologetically self-interested. He believes ideology is a form of weakness -- a form of cowardice. It hems you in in ways that don't allow you to be flexible. And inflexibility is anathema to progress.The problem with Washington right now is that people are too stuck to their ideology. When you have both parties who will not find ways to compromise, who won't meet in the middle, you have paralysis. It's the perversion of idealism. I think what Francis has done is liberate himself from belief systems altogether. He says, I've got people over here who think this, and people over there who think that. I'm going to find ways -- whether it's through persuasion or seduction or intimidation or blackmail, whatever my tactics are -- to make sure everyone moves forward.I think that's attractive to people. One of the comments we often get is people root for Francis because he actually gets things done. He makes an argument for the ends justifying the means.CNN: Have you gotten much reaction from the actual denizens of Washington?Willimon: Sure. A lot of people in Washington have watched the show and think it's one of the more authentic portrayals they've ever seen. We definitely push the limits of probability, but everything that happens on the show is more or less plausible. And we don't shy away from the nuts and bolts and nitty-gritty of what it takes to get things done. And sometimes it's ugly.CNN: I do find the sausage-making ugly. When I watch the show, and Francis talks about "looking weak," I'd be the person he's talking about.Willimon: Francis is an extreme example because he says, I don't have ideals in the traditional sense. I think he sees an intransigent belief system as a form of cowardice because it dictates your behavior for you. You don't have to make hard choices, you don't have to come up with solutions, you don't have to compromise, you don't have to think outside the box. That's like a sanctioned form of impotence that has the appearance of strength, but not if you scratch the surface.CNN: Do you think that news media play too much of a role in making that impotence look strong, because they enjoy conflict?Willimon: That's an interesting question. I don't think that the media actually has the power to determine the course of history. What the media does is respond to narratives that are already coursing through the nation's system. Conflict always makes for a good story, and stories that interest people will always rise to the top of the headlines. But I just see that as a function of the media doing what it has always done since the first leaflet was printed -- trying to find its audience and keep them engaged.CNN: Does the binge-watching aspect affect the way you write it or make it?Willimon: It's sort of yes and no. When I first began season 1, we had not made a decision that we would release all 13 episodes at once. So I wrote it thinking it has to be able to work both ways. What affected the writing most was knowing we had two seasons guaranteed before I even started. I knew we had 26 hours, and there were things I could lay into the very beginning of season 1 that wouldn't boomerang back to the very end of season 2. So it's knowing you have such a large canvas to paint on.CNN: Is there any political figure or artistic figure you see as a model?Willimon: There are so many. In terms of political figures, someone we keep going back to for inspiration is LBJ. I don't necessarily say he's a model for me -- there are aspects of the way he conducted business that I find admirable and others I find abhorrent. (But) I think there's so much to be gained by digging into this life story. It's an epic American story that happens to be real.As far as models in the arts, one would be the screenwriter William Goldman, who's a friend and mentor of mine. The thing about Bill that's so extraordinary, besides the fact he's had a career that's spanned half a century, he continues to keep challenging himself. In a similar vein I would say Ken Burns. There you have someone who has such a singular vision and really stuck to it. The documentary world is a tough racket. The ability to make documentaries that are not only so epic and thorough and artful, but have them reach mainstream audiences -- I find it to be not short of miraculous.CNN: We saw bits of Frank's roots in the first season. Are we going to see more in season 2?Willimon: I wish I could tell you, but I'm not going to. You'll have to watch and see./* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({"id" : "cnn_sharebar2","url" : "http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/28/showbiz/tv/beau-willimon-house-of-cards-q-and-a/index.html","title" : "\'House of Cards\' creator Beau Willimon plays a solid hand"});