An arbitrator ruled in Netflix’s favor in a high-profile dispute between the streaming giant and the Hollywood director Carl Erik Rinsch over a science-fiction series that never aired, awarding the company nearly $9 million in damages.
Mr. Rinsch had sold Netflix the television show, “Conquest,” near the height of the streaming boom in 2018, but he never delivered any episodes.
Netflix had to write off the $55 million it had spent on the project — a fiasco that became a symbol of the era of profligate spending that Hollywood studios are trying to put behind them as they focus on increasing profits rather than simply adding subscribers.
Netflix canceled the development of “Conquest” in early 2021 after Mr. Rinsch’s behavior turned erratic.
In texts and emails to Netflix executives, he claimed to have discovered Covid-19’s secret transmission mechanism and told his wife, a producer on the show, that he could predict earthquakes and lightning strikes.
Persons:
Carl Erik Rinsch, Rinsch
Organizations:
Netflix, Hollywood
Locations:
Netflix’s, ”
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