Netflix gave $11 million to filmmaker Carl Erik Rinsch to produce a sci-fi show. Now, the streaming giant wants its money back after Rinsch wasted the investment on risky stock trading and investments.
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Netflix burned more than $40 million on Mr. Rinsch’s show and gave him near-total budgetary and creative latitude. However, they say they’ve never received a single finished episode. Now, Mr. Rinsch and Netflix are locked in a confidential arbitration proceeding initiated by Mr. Rinsch. He claims the company breached their contract and owes him at least $14 million in damages. Netflix claims that it owes the former nothing, and in fact, it wired the filmmaker’s production company an additional $11 million, bringing its total outlay to more than $55 million.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Rinsch transferred $10.5 million of the $11 million to his personal brokerage account at Charles Schwab. Using options, he would risky bets on the stock market.
The Filmmaker Became Erratic and Wasted Netflix’s $11 Million investment
According to members of the show’s cast and crew, Carl Erick Rinsch became erratic soon after the contract with Netflix was signed for the production of the “Conquest” series. The pandemic did nothing to help with that behavior, leading to the downfall of the show’s production.
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Mishaps during big Hollywood productions aren’t uncommon. However, this instance in particular is rare, primarily because of the sum of investment, as well as no show coming at all. Thomas Cherian, a spokesman for Netflix, says the company had provided substantial funding and other support to Mr. Rinsch’s series. However, “after a lot of time and effort, it became clear that Mr. Rinsch was never going to complete the project he agreed to make, and so we wrote the project off.”