RustySlinky
11-04-2003, 08:29 PM
I was unable to find the original thread, so here's the answer now, for *GuyRicardo* and others who were wondering about this over a year ago :)
Direct from Co-ExProducer and writer, Hans Tobeason, *The Birds of Prey*:
. . . A lot of people asked if there is any chance that BOP might come back. In short - no. Of course, there are no sure things, but it would be miraculous . . .
. . . In the case of BOP, there were an unusually large number of, for lack of a better word, factions involved. In no particular order - the network (The WB), the studio (Warner Bros Television), Tollin/Robbins, the writers, the production staff, and the cast. It was not always the case that all of these entities were on the same page, as it were . . .
. . . There was a considerable amount of "discussion" between Tollin/Robbins and Warner Bros Television on the one hand, and Warner Bros Films and DC Comics on the other. What you saw on the show was the limit of what we were allowed to use of Batman, Catwoman, The Joker, etc. As you know, WB Films is trying to re-start the Batman film franchise and they were VERY protective of those icons . . .
. . . we had VERY severe restrictions as which characters from the DC universe we were allowed to use (or even mention). Between The WB, DC Comics, Warner Bros Features, and Warner Bros TV, there was quite a lot of "discussion" re: the characters. In general, we were allowed to use and/or reference the less well known characters, but had to stay well clear of the biggies . . .
. . . I have to take some of the blame for the cancellation, obviously. However, the process of writing BOP was somewhat unusual, in that the writers were being pulled in many directions at once, and had a very difficult time finding a groove, as it were.
. . . We kept getting tossed around violently by shifting requirements - I think we probably threw out a dozen or more complete stories because either Tollin/Robbins, the studio, or the network was unhappy. . .
. . . There was way too much time spent struggling with the politics, and way too little time spent generating great scripts (in my opinion). For any show to work - both as a production and in terms of finding an audience - it has to be following a single vision, a single idea of "what" the show is about. Laeta, who is a remarkable writer, had such a vision, but she very quickly discovered that she did not have the power to effect that vision. There was too much disagreement among the factions (see my earlier answers), and sadly, I was not empowered to help as much as I wished I could. It was very difficult for all the writers (and, I'm sure, everyone involved in the show) to see an idea that we all felt could go places get so quickly torn apart . . .
The interviews also go into great detail regarding the sets, shooting, the cast, the storylines, etc:1. How and why was the decision made to give so much screen time to Huntress to the detriment of the characters of Oracle and Dinah? Was this a creative decision on the part of the writers or did The WB pressure you to do this? The show clearly worked best when the screen time was equally divided between the three Birds.
Hans: There are many answers to this question. The simplest is, as you suggest, the hunt for ratings - The WB seemed to believe that Huntress was the "money". Although we (the writers) thought that Dinah's appeal as a teenager would be strong for the WB audience, we were told not to spend much time in the high school. I know that the high school setting was perhaps not sexy enough for the network, but it was going to be tricky to explore Dinah's "issues" without some peers. Thus, Gibson. But we never really had enough story time to get that to work either. Another factor mitigating against equal time among the characters was the considerable resistance we were getting from the network to Oracle being wheelchair-bound. Let me tell you, the "discussions" on this subject were heated. These, and many other, reasons conspired to skew the show toward a kind of "The Huntress Show" thing. . .
3. Why did we never see any of the personal living quarters in the Clocktower – i.e. Dinah’s bedroom, etc…?
Hans: Nice one. The answer is brutally simple. We had no money. The budget for the show was extremely tight. Originally, the show was scheduled to be shot in Toronto. For various reasons, we ended up shooting in Burbank, CA, on the Warner Bros lot. This decision ended up hurting the show terribly. It was simply too expensive to build any more sets. In fact, we had an almost impossible time shooting exteriors, particularly night exteriors.
The studio wanted us to shoot on the lot, since they thought they were going to have a dearth of productions up and running. This turned out not to be the case. Some Tom Cruise movie set in ancient Japan ended up taking over almost the entire back lot, and we had only one exterior location on which we could shoot. If you look closely, you'll note that the exterior street scenes (day or night) almost all take place on the same block of city buildings. . .
Link here: http://www.birdsofpreyonline.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=4052
.
Direct from Co-ExProducer and writer, Hans Tobeason, *The Birds of Prey*:
. . . A lot of people asked if there is any chance that BOP might come back. In short - no. Of course, there are no sure things, but it would be miraculous . . .
. . . In the case of BOP, there were an unusually large number of, for lack of a better word, factions involved. In no particular order - the network (The WB), the studio (Warner Bros Television), Tollin/Robbins, the writers, the production staff, and the cast. It was not always the case that all of these entities were on the same page, as it were . . .
. . . There was a considerable amount of "discussion" between Tollin/Robbins and Warner Bros Television on the one hand, and Warner Bros Films and DC Comics on the other. What you saw on the show was the limit of what we were allowed to use of Batman, Catwoman, The Joker, etc. As you know, WB Films is trying to re-start the Batman film franchise and they were VERY protective of those icons . . .
. . . we had VERY severe restrictions as which characters from the DC universe we were allowed to use (or even mention). Between The WB, DC Comics, Warner Bros Features, and Warner Bros TV, there was quite a lot of "discussion" re: the characters. In general, we were allowed to use and/or reference the less well known characters, but had to stay well clear of the biggies . . .
. . . I have to take some of the blame for the cancellation, obviously. However, the process of writing BOP was somewhat unusual, in that the writers were being pulled in many directions at once, and had a very difficult time finding a groove, as it were.
. . . We kept getting tossed around violently by shifting requirements - I think we probably threw out a dozen or more complete stories because either Tollin/Robbins, the studio, or the network was unhappy. . .
. . . There was way too much time spent struggling with the politics, and way too little time spent generating great scripts (in my opinion). For any show to work - both as a production and in terms of finding an audience - it has to be following a single vision, a single idea of "what" the show is about. Laeta, who is a remarkable writer, had such a vision, but she very quickly discovered that she did not have the power to effect that vision. There was too much disagreement among the factions (see my earlier answers), and sadly, I was not empowered to help as much as I wished I could. It was very difficult for all the writers (and, I'm sure, everyone involved in the show) to see an idea that we all felt could go places get so quickly torn apart . . .
The interviews also go into great detail regarding the sets, shooting, the cast, the storylines, etc:1. How and why was the decision made to give so much screen time to Huntress to the detriment of the characters of Oracle and Dinah? Was this a creative decision on the part of the writers or did The WB pressure you to do this? The show clearly worked best when the screen time was equally divided between the three Birds.
Hans: There are many answers to this question. The simplest is, as you suggest, the hunt for ratings - The WB seemed to believe that Huntress was the "money". Although we (the writers) thought that Dinah's appeal as a teenager would be strong for the WB audience, we were told not to spend much time in the high school. I know that the high school setting was perhaps not sexy enough for the network, but it was going to be tricky to explore Dinah's "issues" without some peers. Thus, Gibson. But we never really had enough story time to get that to work either. Another factor mitigating against equal time among the characters was the considerable resistance we were getting from the network to Oracle being wheelchair-bound. Let me tell you, the "discussions" on this subject were heated. These, and many other, reasons conspired to skew the show toward a kind of "The Huntress Show" thing. . .
3. Why did we never see any of the personal living quarters in the Clocktower – i.e. Dinah’s bedroom, etc…?
Hans: Nice one. The answer is brutally simple. We had no money. The budget for the show was extremely tight. Originally, the show was scheduled to be shot in Toronto. For various reasons, we ended up shooting in Burbank, CA, on the Warner Bros lot. This decision ended up hurting the show terribly. It was simply too expensive to build any more sets. In fact, we had an almost impossible time shooting exteriors, particularly night exteriors.
The studio wanted us to shoot on the lot, since they thought they were going to have a dearth of productions up and running. This turned out not to be the case. Some Tom Cruise movie set in ancient Japan ended up taking over almost the entire back lot, and we had only one exterior location on which we could shoot. If you look closely, you'll note that the exterior street scenes (day or night) almost all take place on the same block of city buildings. . .
Link here: http://www.birdsofpreyonline.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=4052
.