A TV producer and a car dealer are suing the Discovery Channel over “Sticker Shock,” a show about car appraisals, claiming the network gave them the cold shoulder on the idea before making the show without them.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Russ Ward, a freelance TV producer and Colin Comer, an automobile valuation expert, claim they came up with the idea for a show that would be like “Antiques Roadshow” for cars.
Ward claims he met with two different execs at Discovery over the show idea in 2015. He claims to have pitched the idea for the show and even discussed the idea of possible spin-offs for motorcycles, airplanes, and motorboats, among other vehicles.
But the meetings went nowhere.
Then in 2018, Ward and Comer claim Discovery launched “Sticker Shock,” a show with the same format as the idea he pitched. They say that one of the execs he pitched the show to is listed as an EP on “Sticker Shock,” while the other was Senior Vice President or Production and Development when the show aired.
The two men claim “Sticker Shock” includes “nearly every creative element” of their pitch.
They are suing the network for breach of implied-in-fact contract and breach of confidence and seeking damages in excess of $2.5 million.
A rep for Discovery had no comment.
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