Apple TV+ production of 'Metropolis' has shut down permanently
Production for the upcoming Apple TV+ "Metropolis" adaptation has been permanently shut down, with insiders citing costs and the writers' strike as the cause.
'Metropolis' production shuts down
Apple TV+ secured rights to a series adaptation of "Metropolis" in 2022 and production was set to begin in Australia soon. However, an ongoing writers' strike has created enough of an impact for Apple to back out of the project entirely.
According to Deadline, the "Metropolis" crew has been notified that production has been permanently shut down. Economic headwinds and the writers' strike were mentioned as reasons for the decision.
The show began seeing delays as soon as the strike began on May 2. Production drafts of the script, budgets, and casting hadn't finished at that point and were put on pause.
Delaying a production leads to a lot of unexpected costs. Filming was expected to begin within weeks, large sets had already been assembled, and VFX was already being planned -- which means increasing costs over time to maintain the "ready" state.
The production studio, UCP, came to the conclusion that the risk of waiting and the increasing costs were too much. The studio notified Apple TV+ that production would be permanently shut down.
Show creator Sam Esmail, known for "Mr. Robot" has been trying to get "Metropolis" made for years. The eight-episode series was set to create nearly 4,000 jobs and dump millions into the local Australian economy.
The ongoing strike has caused problems for several Apple TV+ shows currently in production. Work on "Loot" season 2 is paused along with the new season of "Severance."
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Comments
Maybe Mr. Esmail can develop another original idea, like Mr. Robot, that will be as memorable as that series.
I keep asking if our digital ability might ever venerate such classics as Dante's Divine Comedy or Homer's Odyssey...?
Would we need a global non-profit crowd source option for that...?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdrS7HGNvbM
One of the really big ones is a demand that "AI" can't be used to write or rewrite, and that contractually-covered scripts can't be used to train such systems. The AMPTP rejected this one and countered with an offer for "annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology", which is just insulting.
The WGA demanded base pay increases roughly in line with inflation, the AMPTP countered with base pay increases lower than inflation (still, any increase is better than none). The WGA demanded minimum employment terms (minimum duration, minimum number of writers for shows based on episode count, etc.) and guarantees for things like rewrite pay (executive producers tend to demand a lot of free rewrites) and health insurance, which the AMPTP mostly rejected and refused to even counter.
In 2008 the studios successfully argued that streaming was new and unproven (à la Spotify), and they didn't know if they would be able to afford to pay residuals. Now that everyone sees how wildly profitable streaming media is, the WGA demanded increases in streaming residuals. The AMPTP countered with much lower increases. The WGA also demanded more information about view counts for streaming episodes and features (movies) to make sure the residuals were accurate, which the AMPTP rejected and refused to counter.
I'm 100% in favor of the writers. Studios get up to some deeply unethical nonsense to avoid paying most of the people involved in making a show.
"From retail workers, to app developers, to TV and film writers, we’re all fed up with Silicon Valley’s #BadApple.