Thoughts on the The Weinstein Company sueing Kevin Williamson...
From the off I want to say I love Kevin Williamson. He's a great writer and I respect the guy a lot. He's given me some great characters, movies and shows over the years. That's not gonna change but when I woke up this morning and read the news about TWC sueing Williamson it got me thinking about a few things.
http://www.deadline.com/2012/04/weinstein-company-sues-kevin-williamson-over-shadows-rights/
Above is the link to the story. Basically TWC paid Williamson out of his contractual obligation to Scream 4. In doing so it was 'agreed' they'd have control of Scream 4 and some of his other projects. One of which is some filmed called 'Shadows'. Now Williamson is arguing he still has control over Shadows and that's why he's being sued.
I have to say I honestly don't see this as TWC acting like dicks. I've been a fan of Williamson for over 15 years now and to be honest it looks like a pattern is emerging. See back in 98/99 production on Scream 3 was well underway, that is pre production. Williamson knew when they wanted to shoot and went to work on the script. Sadly it never got past the treatment stage. Instead he decided to concentrate on Wasteland, his new edgy show (remeber Wasteland? No, I don't either because it was off the air after like two episodes).
In 2009 Scream 4 was greenlit and Williamson signed a contract to produce and write the film. He was given a submission date of Jan 2010 for the script so production could begin in the summer. From what I can gather, I could be wrong, the first draft didn't even meet the deadline. TWC extended it and then extended it AGAIN so Williamson could mange both Scream 4 and his commitments to Vampire Diares. In the end the 'argument' happened.
Here's what I think. As much as I love him I think the guy has his hands in too many pots. TWC gave him more than enough time to get his shit together but he kept trying to spread himself out too thin. I love how passionate he is about his projects, it's good that he fought for creative control of Scream 4 but honestly making a film is so much bigger than the writer. You have sechdules to work around for crew and cast and honestly I just think he's coming off as a bit of a diva. In this I'm gonna monitor the case and see what way it goes but really I get the impression he just wants everyone to bend backwards for him and if he doesn't get his way it's tossing the toys out of the pram mode. It pains me to say that. Maybe this time TWC sueing him could be a good reality check.
Chillin'
He seems to be overextending himself (Williamson).
Good blog.