Is The Scream Franchise Plagued By Bad Blood Between Its Two Driving Creative Forces?

Steve Barton   |  

Jul 24, 2014

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It’s a shame to discover the amount of bad blood that exists between the Scream franchise’s creative minds. To hear Kevin Williamson tell it, it doesn’t sound like he’ll be back to the series anytime soon.

Bloody-Disgusting was recently pointed to Cinefilles by an avid reader. The big story coming out of there is that Scream writer Kevin Williamson still has plans for a Scream 5 and Scream 6, but that nobody seems all that interested in making them.

Of course, this has something to do with Scream 4‘s rather disappointing domestic box office, and also the fact that the franchise is currently being re-imagined as a television series for MTV (with Wes Craven’s involvement). What’s most surprising (and disappointing) about this news isn’t that Williamson has zero involvement in the television series, but that Craven and co. (The Weinstein Company) seem to have written him off.

“It’s weird, when I pitched ‘Scream 4?, I pitched ‘Scream 4,’ ’5? and ’6?,” Williamson explained to a few journalists, including Cinefilles, following a panel for his new TV show ‘Stalker’ at the 2014 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on Thursday. “I pitched a whole new trilogy. I guess Scream 4 never took off in a way they hoped, and so…”

While Williamson went on to confirm what any ‘Scream’ fan already knows–he’s “not involved” in the series development anymore, as Wes Craven and his team are “done with [him]“–he also noted that these original pitches could very well turn into something bigger in the future, if all goes well. “It’s all here [pointing to his head] and my computer … if they wanna buy it from me!” he said with a smirk.

It’s very possible the Craven crew might want to do just that if the ‘Scream’ TV series currently in development at MTV turns into a hit. Williamson is not involved in that in any capacity, not even as a consultant, but tells Cinefilles that he might tune in, as a viewer.

“I’m curious. I’ll watch it. I’ll give it a go,” he said from the TCA stage at the Beverly Hills Hilton. “’Teen Wolf’ turned out to be a fun romp–I enjoy the hell out of that–so maybe MTV’s on a roll and it will be a good, cool thriller.”

Williamson is smart enough to never say never where the prospect of lucrative franchises are concerned, but it certainly sounds like we won’t be seeing Ghostface on the big screen again in the near future.

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