Sometimes good news can come out of a strike, like the fact that Castlevania has been delayed. The live action adaptation of the truly heinous, dull and repetitive video game series was set to begin shooting in a couple of weeks but has been shelved due to someone feeling the script was in need of work. The fact that this movie has a script is probably an achievement in and of itself, frankly. Sylvain White, the director, remains attached to the 40 million dollar project, although I heard he threw a hissy fit and was seen stomping in the yard.
Meanwhile, Ironbow, a movie that would have seen Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves director Kevin Reynolds returning to the Middle Ages for some bowman action (this time William Tell and the story of his horse, Overture), has also had a mercy delaying, again due to script issues. I want the writers to get back to work and I want them to have a great deal and I want Hollywood to dust itself off from this madness, but as long as the strike is keeping movies like these from going forward, I have mixed feelings.
Meanwhile there are rumors that CBS is looking at unproduced movie scripts in hopes of turning them into pilots. This is the equivalent of Charlie Chaplin boiling his shoe while starving in the Yukon. See, the strike has already killed this season of TV, but it’s just getting long enough now to kill next season as well, since we’re heading into pilot season. Setting aside the massive economic effects the canceling of pilot season will have on LA (it’s the time of year when every waiter actually gets an acting job for a couple of days), the canceling of pilot season means no new shows next year. And since a huge number of this year’s shows are getting or have gotten canned, that leaves a gaping hole for the networks.
Variety is reporting that CBS entertainment prez Nina Tassler has been quietly asking producers to bring her old movie scripts that can be cut up and used for pilots. That’s actually how ER got its start, so it isn’t the most unheard of thing in the world, although I don’t know how taking an existing script and cutting it to pieces and changing things so a two hour story fits in one is anything but writing.