A producer has filed a lawsuit against Amazon MGM Studios, claiming that an executive at the company solicited kickbacks for post production work and blocked companies from servicing projects if they refused.
In a lawsuit filed in California state court, the producer, Joe Eckardt, says he was recruited to participate in an alleged scheme in which he would be provided with the approved budget for a production in order to submit a winning bid. After the contract was awarded, he would pay head of unscripted post production Frank Salinas a percentage of the project value as repayment.
The matter was reported to Amazon MGM Studios, which declined to comment. An investigation last year ultimately found that the claims were “not substantiated,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit claims Salinas in 2023 met with Eckardt, executive producer for Selling Sunset and post producer for Selling the OC and Selling Tampa. At the meeting, Salinas said he could use his authority over vendor selection, bidding approval and post production staffing decisions to ensure Eckardt’s company, Unbreakable Post, was awarded lucrative contracts for Amazon unscripted shows, the lawsuit says.
Eckardt contends he was told that Amazon-affiliated productions required production companies to obtain three bids for post production work, but that Salinas controlled which vendors participated in the process. Under the alleged scheme, Eckardt would use confidential information to submit a bid designed to come in just under budget, effectively guaranteeing him the contract, according to the complaint.
The producer says he rebuffed the offer. After, Salinas retaliated by blocking Eckardt from servicing Amazon-affiliated titles, the lawsuit claims. This includes multiple international Temptation Island productions despite having performed substantial consulting, budgeting and post production planning work. Later that year in 2024, Eckardt contends Salinas refused to award him the contracts for Coach Prime and Good Sports.
“These removals were not isolated incidents, but part of a continuing pattern in which Salinas used his authority over Amazon’s post-production approval process to redirect work to favored vendors and exclude Plaintiffs after they refused to participate in the kickback scheme,” writes James Bryant, a lawyer for the producer, in the complaint, which was filed last week.
According to the complaint, Salinas represented that he was already being paid kickbacks by other vendors. The payments were allegedly made to his company, All Star Media.
Eckardt brings claims for civil conspiracy and aiding and abetting, among others. He seeks at least $1 million.
