Everything You Love Dies: Darabont Walks from "Walking Dead"
By Steven Lloyd Wilson | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (18)
The term “show runner” is a funny thing. It doesn’t actually refer to a title, the individual in question is generally one of the producers, usually picks up a few directing slots, but the bottom line is that this guy is the boss. It’s funny because what with unions and such, Hollywood is rife with titles for everything from the guy who brings donuts to whatever perversion it is that a Key Grip is actually responsible for. So for what has become arguably the most important role in the production of a modern television series to be entirely without formal sanction, is, well, funny. I am well aware that I used funny several times in this paragraph. I could rewrite it, or I could simply leave it as a thrown gauntlet to the informal rules of good writing. I also ended a sentence with a preposition because I am mad with power, being the post runner of this particular post.
In any case, Frank Darabont has announced that he’s stepping down from his lofty and unofficial position as show runner of “The Walking Dead,” proving once again that everything you love dies, generally sooner more than later in direct proportion to how much you love it. It’s funny (there’s that word again), but he didn’t bother announcing that at Comic Con during the “Walking Dead” panel. Most panels dedicated to debuting new trailers and such have an essential inclination towards sliding into a self-congratulatory orgy, so I suppose this announcement would have interfered with that a bit.
This all comes in the wake of repeated headlines about “Walking Dead” writers being fired en masse, the second season being written by contract, and that AMC was insisting on budget cuts for the second season. Faaaantastic.
Darabont had this to say though about the second season: “Season two picks up with five seconds of overlap with the end of the first season. They’re driving away in the truck and the CDC blows up. None of this ‘six months later’ crap.”
Was that a dig at “Battlestar Galactica”? If that was a dig on the year in Baltar’s hair, we’re going to have some issues here Mr. Darabont.
(source: SlashFilm)
Each Time You Like, Share, Tweet or Stumble a Pajiba Post, An Angel Does the Paul Rudd Dance
← Can Kevin Smith Host A Daily TV SMalk Show? | Pearl Jam Twenty Trailer: It's Like Reducing the Last Two Decades of Your Life to One Go**damn Two-Minute Song →
Comments
Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at July 27, 2011 9:48 AM
Grips are responsible for rigging the equipment and often (maybe always, I forget) setting the lighting, among other things. The Key Grip is the guy in charge. My roommate is desperate to get a chance to work as one on a movie so he can join the grips union. Basically, he makes sure your shit stays where it's supposed to.