Neil Gaiman on 'Development Hell'

[Adrian Bamforth]

Some interesting stuff here about the workings of Hollywood, attempted Sandman adaptations and other comic book movies:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011lmq6/Development_Hell/

Development Hell is one of those places that film-makers don't want to be in. There's a clue in the name. Yes, it's Hell! Not actual fire and brimstone to be sure, but frustration, vexation, wounded egos, wasted time and money and more corporate Hollywood nonsense than you can shake a stick at.

Development Hell is where film scripts go when movie executives can't take the responsibility of giving a 'green light' to a project and part of the reason so many projects do end up in the Stygian darkness is that it's easier to say 'no' than 'yes'.

In Hollywood nobody is fired for saying 'no' but as soon as you say 'yes', the clock is ticking. Of course if you're the one saying 'yes' to "Harry Potter" or "Avatar", then the clouds part and the sun shines upon you. But if you're the one who said 'yes' to "Heaven's Gate" or "Swept Away", heaven help you and your job.... Films can get stuck in Development Hell for a number of reasons and in this programme Richard E Grant will explore some of those reasons, looking in detail at a script that's had millions of dollars thrown at it, attracted some of the most creative people in Hollywood and yet still hasn't been made - Janet Scott and Lee Batchler's 'magic in the desert' movie, "Smoke and Mirrors".

He also examines the plight of "Sherlock Holmes and the Vengeance of Dracula", cowboy movie "Hell and High Water" and the later Superman and Batman films. There are interviews with two writer/directors who seem to have suffered a good deal in Development Hell, Neil Gaiman and Mel Smith, and two who have tasted Development Heaven, Garth Jennings and Matthew Vaughn.

The contributors are Mel Smith, Neil Gaiman, Lord Puttnam, top Hollywood script writer Steven de Souza, top producer Andy Vajna, critics and observers of the Development Hell syndrome David Hughes and Nick Sedgefield, director Nick Roeg, Janet Scott and Lee Batchler, "Hitchhiker's" director Garth Jennings, "Lock Stock" producer Matthew Vaughn and Hollywood producer, David Foster.

[radiator]

Nice one, I'll definitely give this a listen!

[Dandontdare]

Can't listen to this just yet as I'm still at work, but I do recall Neil Gaiman talking about Development Hell several years ago. Despite the event being a reading/signing of the just-released Stardust, the first audience question was inevitably "will there ever be a Sandman movie?"

NG replied that he didn't own the character, so had no say in it, but that the company that did would send him treatments and sample scripts every now and then, just as a courtsey or to get his input. He said he stopped reading them around version 17 which began: "Tremble puny mortals before the power of the Sandman"  

[radiator]

Reminds me of that early draft of the Watchmen script that had a line something like "Oh God, It's the God Damn Watchmen!" in the first scene. 

[Zarjazzer]

http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com

What a great programme well worth a listen. here's the script shadow site that has some interesting reviews of some of these undeveloped scripts. You can also download some and read for yourself. Haven't downloaded any myself  but the reviews are a good read.

[JOE SOAP]

I've read a few of the scripts on ScriptShadow, the Dredd script was reviewed last year and was rated quite well:


http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2010/07/peach-trees.html

[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn't for me
[ ] worth the read

• impressive
  [ ] genius
  
  
  What I learned: I'm still impressed that someone is making a comicbook movie that isn't an origin story. This isn't about the creation of a hero or antihero, this is about the character being put in a worst case scenario and seeing if he can just make it out alive. It's a new formula. Take a popular character and put them in a situation that is basically the worst series of obstacles ever. Or take a superhero and put him inside a contained thriller. In a climate where it seems like Hollywood will never tire of making comicbook movies, this script proves that these tales can be told without telling their back story as the movie.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

The script ideas really are great. It was the ironically titled Dead Loss that I enjoyed the most.

The Brigands of Rattleborg sounds hell for leather nasty too. I read a bit of the DREDD script review which perhaps I shouldn't have but I stopped myself before the end just in case.

[Eric Plumrose]

The contributors are Mel Smith, Neil Gaiman, Lord Puttnam, top Hollywood script writer Steven de Souza, top producer Andy Vajna . . .

. . . And that, right there, covers the Sixth Circle of Development Hell.

[JOE SOAP]

Some films should have stayed in development hell especially when those two hucksters are involved.