The Walking Dead Could Be Ditching Writing Staff

[Logan Westbrook]

The Walking Dead Could Be Ditching Writing Staff

It's apparently out with the old, and in with the new - for every episode - on the hit zombie TV show The Walking Dead.

Frank Darabont, executive producer, director and writer for The Walking Dead TV show, has supposedly fired all of the show's writers, and is considering not having a writing team for the next season. Instead, Darabont would farm script-writing duties out to freelancers on an episode-by-episode basis.

While nothing has been finalized yet, Darabont is said to be keenly aware that the staff writers wrote only two of the first season's six episodes. Of the remaining four, Robert Kirkman - executive producer and co-creator of the original Walking Dead comic book - wrote one, and freelance writer Glen Mazzara wrote another, and Darabont himself wrote two.

The freelancer model is fairly common in the UK, but unusual in the US. If Darabont does decide to eschew a writing staff altogether, he may have difficulty with writers' unions and putting together a thirteen episode season on such a piecemeal basis. He has more time than usual to get things ready however, as AMC is considering waiting until October of next year to launch the second season.

Source: Deadline [http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/the-walking-dead-lets-go-of-writers-considers-no-writing-staff-for-season-2/]








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[vrbtny]

Gahhhh!!!

Nooooo the best T.V show is getting screwed up!! I thought it was safe because it wasn't on Fox.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

This could be...good. While consistency may be a little...off between episodes, they've already proven that they can do something like this since well, they practically did it for this season. I hope the next season is as good as this one.

 

[Wieke]

Gahhhh!!!

Nooooo the best T.V show is getting screwed up!! I thought it was safe because it wasn't on Fox.

Note how only 2 of the 6 episodes were written by the writing team. And frankly, i wouldn't be able to which ones. So you can't really claim the show's quality will decline.

Edit: Ghah, ninjas!

 

[Enkidu88]

That sounds like a really terrible idea. And I'm a freelance writer myself (yay, more work for me at least). Though at the same time I almost feel like the writing team deserves it after the last episode.

Spoiler

Seriously? The CDC has only one crazed scientist still alive? Where the heck did the rest of them go? The blast doors were locked and this guy survived obviously. What did the rest of the team try and go Dr. Freeman on the zombies and go out with crowbars?

I suppose it could work if the freelancers they hire actually watch the show, but if they just pick out whatever freelancers are available at the time and they haven't watched the show there could be problems. With a writing team you have people that consistently deal with the same characters and settings, they know how their characters would react in certain situations. With someone just dropping a writer in media res they might just go with whatever sounds cool or just doing wild stuff to see what they can get away with. Since they're only there temporarily character consistency isn't really a concern.

But we'll see how it goes, maybe it'll be great. It really depends on who they hire and how well acquainted with the material they are.

Now to call AMC and offer my services!

 

[NoseDigger]

Not all bad.
I mean, the writers for House are nearly always different.

 

[zombie711]

nooooo this is a very bad idea

 

[TaboriHK]

This could be...good. While consistency may be a little...off between episodes, they've already proven that they can do something like this since well, they practically did it for this season. I hope the next season is as good as this one.

This half-season. Long term, this is a really dumb idea.

 

[endnuen]

Why not just.. I don't know.. Work with the comic as a base?

 

[Blind Sight]

AMC gives a huge amount of time between seasons anyway (Breaking Bad's been off for about five months, it'll be back after winter 2011) so I'm not really worried. There's a lot of shows that are actually written by just one guy, like the I.T. Crowd, which is just made by its creator, Graham Linehan. If only two episodes were made by the writers anyway, meh, I do like to see a show experiment.

 

[Jack_Uzi]

Great... this show had potential. I'm curious to see wheter it's going down the drain by this or not.

 

[XT inc]

13 episode season my ass you need to be putting out at least 365 for starters. Second of all if it already is going that way and everything has been great let them try it.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

This could be...good. While consistency may be a little...off between episodes, they've already proven that they can do something like this since well, they practically did it for this season. I hope the next season is as good as this one.

This half-season. Long term, this is a really dumb idea.

I can't agree or disagree to be honest. I don't have anything to really base it on. I don't think its an entirely terrible idea. I mean, the comic book is literally right there for them to refer to if they feel like its not working out as they intended.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Not sure. As has been pointed out it works in Britain, but then most British series only last about 8-12 episodes instead of the usual American low 20s. Both systems have their merits but also both systems work well in the chosen formula.

Still, it's always good to try new things and this could work very well.

 

[WingedFortress]

How fitting that a show based on a comic book will have new writers approaching it on a week to week basis. Im all for it.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

The first three episodes were great, but after that I'm having trouble buying into all of this 'using the comic as a guideline rather than a base' business. In recent episodes, the dialogue has just been horrible and I'm starting to really hate the show's original characters.

If they want to go with a unique writing staff per episode, that's just fine. Television does this a lot anyway. Just please... give Andrea some better dialogue.

 

[TaboriHK]

This could be...good. While consistency may be a little...off between episodes, they've already proven that they can do something like this since well, they practically did it for this season. I hope the next season is as good as this one.

This half-season. Long term, this is a really dumb idea.

I can't agree or disagree to be honest. I don't have anything to really base it on. I don't think its an entirely terrible idea. I mean, the comic book is literally right there for them to refer to if they feel like its not working out as they intended.

That's what I'm afraid of. The comic gets really, really bad around the time the prison arc begins. The last thing I want them doing is being true to the source material.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

This could be...good. While consistency may be a little...off between episodes, they've already proven that they can do something like this since well, they practically did it for this season. I hope the next season is as good as this one.

This half-season. Long term, this is a really dumb idea.

I can't agree or disagree to be honest. I don't have anything to really base it on. I don't think its an entirely terrible idea. I mean, the comic book is literally right there for them to refer to if they feel like its not working out as they intended.

That's what I'm afraid of. The comic gets really, really bad around the time the prison arc begins. The last thing I want them doing is being true to the source material.

Really? Hrmmm...I really need to get around to reading the comic then. I had someone tell me the Prison story arc is one of the best parts. My brother has all the books. I'm going to get them today and start reading.