'Walking Dead' Producers Recall Early     Roadblocks at NBC, Image Comics.

Speaking at the Produced By Conference, Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert spoke of NBC passing on the series and the joke that creator Robert Kirkman made to get the green light for the comic book.

From early meetings with NBC to the quick greenlight at AMC,Gale Anne Hurd and executive producer David Alpert recalled the beginning of The Walking Dead during a Saturday panel at the Produced By Conference in Los Angeles.

Hurd, joined by senior vp business affairs at AMC Marci Wiseman and exec vp global scripted programming original development at Fox International Channels Sharon Tal Yguado, recalled that she first learned of The Walking Dead when it was first published in 2003 but was focused on feature films at the time and didn't know how to find an ending for a movie based on the series and put it on the shelf.