Movies
TV: “True Blood” Loses Head Writer, Alan Ball Stepping Down…
Alan Ball is stepping down as the head writer of “True Blood”.
I’m not entirely sure how much this will impact the upcoming 5th Season of HBO’s flagship sex and vampires odyssey. I do know that the show resumed production in November, so I have to assume that the majority of the upcoming season is pretty much mapped out. The show’s luxurious (around 14 days per episode) production schedule would allow for around 7 or so segments to be in the can. So it’s safe to say that the remaining 5 are outlined at the very least and the majority of them are scripted.
Not much reason has been given for Ball’s departure from the position (he will remain on the show in some capacity, I’m guessing as a producer) except for “exhaustion”. While that’s often PR code-speak for too much hard partying – but I don’t really think that’s the case here. Perhaps Ball is literally exhausted by pushing the show to ridiculous extremes? I don’t imagine he envisioned it being as patently ridiculous as it’s become when he was first getting it off the ground in 2007-2008.
Per Forbes, “Sookie and her pals from HBO’s True Blood are losing their creator. Alan Ball, I have confirmed, will step down from being headwriter of the show about sexy vampires mixing it up in New Orleans. Explanations include exhaustion, and maybe that the show seemed like it had tired blood last season. Ball will still be with the show, I’m told, but a new regime will guide the fates of the characters into their new season. This could also very well be a money issue, as series tend to get more and more expensive as they drag on.”
In the wake of Backrooms and Obsession, everyone is prowling YouTube for horror shorts to adapt and horror filmmakers to scoop up, so don’t be surprised to see a whole bunch of upcoming articles about YouTube success stories crossing over into theaters. One horror short that’s already been picked up for expansion is Dolly director Rod Blackhurst’s Alone Time.
The 12-minute short was uploaded in 2014 and has amassed nearly 2 million views at the time of this article being written, and Deadline reports that it’s getting a feature adaptation.
Witchcraft Motion Picture Company & Fever Dream will turn the viral short into a feature film.
Alone Time follows Ann Saunders, a young NY professional whose carefully constructed life begins to unravel following a devastating personal loss. “Seeking refuge from a collapsing relationship, a deteriorating family situation, and mounting emotional trauma, Ann reluctantly joins her closest friend on a remote camping trip deep in the Adirondack wilderness.”
The synopsis continues, “When her friend mysteriously disappears, Ann becomes convinced that an unseen figure is stalking her through the forest. What begins as a survival nightmare slowly transforms into something far more disturbing as fractured memories, conflicting realities, and hidden truths force Ann to confront the possibility that the greatest threat may not be lurking in the woods at all, but buried deep within her own psych.”
“Alone Time has quietly followed me for over a decade,” director Rod Blackhurst said in a statement. “What began as a short film about isolation and the weight of life now feels more relevant than ever. The original short found its audience organically online long before that was considered a legitimate path for filmmakers. Bringing it to life as a feature allows us to explore those themes on a much larger and more psychologically unsettling canvas.”
Blackhurst is directing the feature length expansion.
You can watch the original Alone Time short film below.