Netflix wins $8.8 million in battle for planned TV series

An arbitrator has ruled in favor of Netflix in a high-profile dispute between the streaming giant and Hollywood director Carl Erik Rinsch over a never-aired sci-fi series, awarding the company nearly $9 million in damages and interests.

Mr. Rinsch sold the TV show “Conquest” to Netflix at the height of the streaming boom in 2018, but he never delivered any episodes. Netflix had to cancel the $55 million it spent on the project – a fiasco that has become a symbol of the era of overspending that Hollywood studios are trying to put behind them by focusing on increasing profits rather than adding subscribers.

Netflix canceled development of “Conquest” in early 2021 after Mr. Rinsch’s behavior became erratic. In text messages and emails to Netflix executives, he claimed to have discovered the secret transmission mechanism of Covid-19 and told his wife, a producer of the series, that he could predict earthquakes and lightning .

After Netflix informed Mr. Rinsch that it had decided to stop financing “Conquest,” he went on a spending spree with the remaining production money from the series, living in five-star hotels in California and Spain and purchasing a fleet of luxury and luxury cars. -end furniture. He said the cars and furniture were props for the show, but the arbitrator, Rita Miller, a former Los Angeles Superior Court judge, ruled that none of the purchases were necessary for the production, according to a copy of his decision reviewed by The New. York Times.

Mr. Rinsch initiated arbitration, alleging that Netflix had breached his contract and owed him at least $14 million.

Ms. Miller, however, ruled that Mr. Rinsch was at fault. The $8.78 million she awarded Netflix is ​​the amount of production money she says Rinsch squandered. It also granted Netflix control over the footage from “Conquest,” which the director had kept in his possession until now.

Mr. Rinsch did not respond to requests for comment.