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I wasn't going to start a separate thread for my project The Lost Patrol, but I have the day off and it's peeing with rain, so why not...?
Here are a couple of the trade announcements from last week:
Stephen Norrington set to 'Patrol'
Blade's Norrington Goes On 'The Lost Patrol'
To cut a long story short, I wrote the movie in '99. It bounced around Hollywood, was optioned a few times, but while everyone loved the script nobody wanted to touch WWII. In 2007, the option with one producer expired and one of the co-producers of LORD OF THE RINGS (Rick Porras) swooped in. They took it to Legendary, who loved it and subsequently took over the whole project.
From day one, Legendary wanted to bring in a writer they were already fond of to change a specific element of the story (sadly, I can't discuss story details). This "writer replacement" step is really the purpose behind my post -- it's okay to be replaced as a writer.
While obviously not ideal, you have to accept it's part of the process on most studio projects. It has no bearing on your talent whatsoever. Some succeed in landing sole credit, like DD's very own Gary Whitta, but that's very uncommon. So be prepared. If you sell your script, someone else may end up writing your baby. But roll with it. Once you have a theatrical movie produced, you'll be the writer they bring in to rewrite the next newcomer.
Often, being replaced is a political thing to, say, increase foreign sales. On another project I have setup -- "Bullet Run" -- one of the overseas territories kicking in part of the $40m budget wanted "a writer with at least one theatrical credit to come in and do a polish." They didn't care who or how talented, only that they had a credit they could mention to their investors or equity fund. So a writer was brought in and he did a quick uncredited pass. The ironic part: I'm still writing on the project and I've been given notes which critique the other writer's revisions and request I remove most of them.
Simply put, being replaced happens. Don't take it personally and be prepared for it to happen. Hopefully it won't, but it might.
On a brighter note, Stephen Norrington has been brought onboard to speed up "The Lost Patrol" because Legendary is hot to make it. He's going to do a draft himself (common with writer/directors) and the hope is that we shoot later this year (depends on "The Crow"). I know little about Norrington except that I loved the first "Blade" and there are many internet rumors claiming he was tough to work with on "League of X G." But I'm convinced he's a great artistic choice for this project and I think most of you are going to love this picture when it hits the theaters.
Until that happens, don't worry. DD's resident reader is still reading...
Here are a couple of the trade announcements from last week:
Stephen Norrington set to 'Patrol'
Blade's Norrington Goes On 'The Lost Patrol'
To cut a long story short, I wrote the movie in '99. It bounced around Hollywood, was optioned a few times, but while everyone loved the script nobody wanted to touch WWII. In 2007, the option with one producer expired and one of the co-producers of LORD OF THE RINGS (Rick Porras) swooped in. They took it to Legendary, who loved it and subsequently took over the whole project.
From day one, Legendary wanted to bring in a writer they were already fond of to change a specific element of the story (sadly, I can't discuss story details). This "writer replacement" step is really the purpose behind my post -- it's okay to be replaced as a writer.
While obviously not ideal, you have to accept it's part of the process on most studio projects. It has no bearing on your talent whatsoever. Some succeed in landing sole credit, like DD's very own Gary Whitta, but that's very uncommon. So be prepared. If you sell your script, someone else may end up writing your baby. But roll with it. Once you have a theatrical movie produced, you'll be the writer they bring in to rewrite the next newcomer.
Often, being replaced is a political thing to, say, increase foreign sales. On another project I have setup -- "Bullet Run" -- one of the overseas territories kicking in part of the $40m budget wanted "a writer with at least one theatrical credit to come in and do a polish." They didn't care who or how talented, only that they had a credit they could mention to their investors or equity fund. So a writer was brought in and he did a quick uncredited pass. The ironic part: I'm still writing on the project and I've been given notes which critique the other writer's revisions and request I remove most of them.
Simply put, being replaced happens. Don't take it personally and be prepared for it to happen. Hopefully it won't, but it might.
On a brighter note, Stephen Norrington has been brought onboard to speed up "The Lost Patrol" because Legendary is hot to make it. He's going to do a draft himself (common with writer/directors) and the hope is that we shoot later this year (depends on "The Crow"). I know little about Norrington except that I loved the first "Blade" and there are many internet rumors claiming he was tough to work with on "League of X G." But I'm convinced he's a great artistic choice for this project and I think most of you are going to love this picture when it hits the theaters.
Until that happens, don't worry. DD's resident reader is still reading...
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