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Wednesday, August 05, 2009

DRAGON UPDATE

This article hit the blogosphere yesterday. Exclusive: RAIN to Awaken The Dragon? Currently, I am no longer attached to Awaken the Dragon. I think I blogged about this awhile back. The project fell victim to the Writer's Strike and my accelerated SOA schedule. I pitched the project about year before the strike to the now defunct Warner Independent and John Wells Productions. They dug the pitch, liked my directorial bent, and I was attached to write and direct. But as it goes sometimes in features, it took a very long time to make the deal. There were a lot of factors that slowed it down, some of my own doing. It finally came together, papers were signed and I began towrite. Five pages in -- the WGA strike happened. I stopped writing. When the strike settled, Sons of Anarchy had been picked up and we were thrown into an accelerated production schedule. We were to premier with The Shield, not after it as I had anticipated. WI and JWP were very understanding and allowed me to push Dragon to the hiatus. However during the course of the SOA season, Warner Independent folded and by the time my hiatus hit, the fate of Awaken the Dragon was up in the air. Then big Warners picked up the option and JWP had it back on track. I pitched the project again to Warner Bros. They dug it and after a new deal was made, it was time to write. Unfortunately it was also time to begin season two of Sons. I loved Dragon. Loved the story, the noir component, the opportunity to direct, it was a great fucking gig. But I'm a control freak and running my show is three full time jobs, I knew if I took on Dragon, both projects would suffer. So I stepped away. The folks at John Wells Productions are really savvy and with big Warners behind them I'm sure they already have found someone more talented than me to write and direct. I look forward to seeing it come together. Maybe even with RAIN.