AMC Slashes The Walking Dead's Budget

Everyone's trying to make a buck these days and sometimes even more buck than they should. Another great show may bite the dust.  According to the Hollywood Reporter, Frank Darabont did not resign, he was 'fired' by AMC's head of original programming, Joel Stillerman.  Allegedly the dispute was over, what else--money.  For some strange reason, after The Walking Dead's breakout 1st season, AMC decided to slash The Walking Dead's budget and pocket the 30% tax credit they received for filming the show in Georgia, instead of reinvesting the tax credit into the show.  Needless to say, Darabont raised Cain about this.  That's when they told him to hit the bricks.

Mind you The Walking Dead is AMC's biggest rainmaker.  Although Mad Men and Breaking Bad are award-winning shows, The Walking Dead is the network's biggest hit with the largest audience (5.3 million viewers watched the premiere and 6 million watched the finale).  According to Stillerman "ratings have no bearing" on the network's decision.  Gee, that makes sense.  What's going on at AMC?  It's not just isolated to The Walking Dead.  AMC has fought tooth and claw with the creators of Mad Men and Breaking Bad too.  Those battles have been even more public.  

Read the Hollywood Reporter article for more info.  The highlighted sentences are very troublesome.  One thing I know for sure, is that canning Frank Darabont was an epic mistake.  They will pay dearly for it when it comes to the show's quality.  This is so disappointing.  Just when we get a good zombie show, AMC decides to muck it up.  *sigh*

"But this source says that AMC had its own ideas about how to make the show more cheaply. The show shoots for eight days per episode, and the network suggested that half should be indoors. 'Four days inside and four days out? That's not Walking Dead,' says this insider. 'This is not a show that takes place around the dinner table.' That was just one of what this person describes as 'silly notes' from AMC. Couldn't the audience hear the zombies sometimes and not see them, to save on makeup? The source says Darabont fought 'a constant battle to keep the show big in scope and style.' "