June 4 2012
source: (
denofgeek.com)
dog.com: Speaking of which … what’s the status on the live-action Star Wars TV series?
Rick McCallum: The TV series we have spent three and a half years on and there are 50 hours totally scripted.
dog.com: Is the show ready to go then?
Rick McCallum: Well, they’re all second draft scripts and it would probably take a year of prep before shooting would start, but that’s because they’re all very complex.
dog.com: If the development is this far along, why the impasse?
Rick McCallum: The episodes are too expensive and well, we’ve got two things going on. Firstly, we’ve got television as we know it about to implode. You’ve got network TV, which is really where we should be because it has the dollars to pay for this and an audience, but you’re burdened by the fact you only get 42 minutes for an hour because of commercials.
And then you’ve got cable, which has the most provocative and daring programming, but has audiences of 1 or 2 million people. They also have a very limited amount of money they can spend without wanting some sort of say or control over the material, which is absolutely repugnant to us in terms of the way we work.
dog.com: So is the argument that you would have less control over Star Wars on television than you would in terms of a theatrical film?
Rick McCallum: We could get around that. Our biggest problem is that these stories are adult. I mean - these are like Deadwood in space. It so unlike anything you’ve ever associated with George before in relation to Star Wars. These aren’t for kids. I mean, we hope they’ll watch, but it’s not being targeted at 8-to-9 year old boys.
The situation we have is that each episode – or if you put two hour long episodes together – is bigger than any film we’ve ever done. It’s on the Avatar level and we’ll only have about $5-6 million we can spend on each episode.
dog.com: Assuming The Star Wars Series goes into production and bearing in mind what we’ve said about both George’s ‘retirement’ and his plans to make his own movies, would that mean he’d be very hands-off with the TV show?
Rick McCallum: No - I think he would do what he did on Young Indy. You hire the best directors, you create the best story you possibly can and then do everything you can to support them in the editorial process. Again, if George wanted to be known as one thing it would always be as an editor. That’s his dream and that’s the part he loves the most.
I think I’ve said this before, but writing is so painful for him and he certainly knows there are a lot of you who don’t like his writing (laughs). But they’re his stories and that’s the way he does it, but it’s hard for him. And directing isn’t the main focus of his life. He wants to gather all the material, but he’d really rather just go into the editing room and do that.
The best thing about Young Indy was that it was like mail-order film making for him. He’d be editing and he’d call me up – and I was always nine or ten hours ahead of him – and say: ‘I just need a wider shot of when he walks out in Shanghai.’ But we were in France now. We’d finish in a location and then move straight on. So we did composite film making, where we’d do a hallway in Paris, the stairs in Prague, a ballroom in Moscow etc.
dog.com: Didn’t you use that production model for the Star Wars prequels?
Rick McCallum: Yes - because it was the only way we could do it for the money. Again, we had to make it for 60-70% cheaper than a studio would have. And the only way you can do that is by asking people to make a sacrifice and then if it works, reward them in ways they could never imagine.
