Some of the greatest works in cinematic history have been the victims of rewrites. A need for creative retooling does not automatically preclude a failure in the making. But when so many video game adaptations have ultimately suffered after their projects endured mandates like “make more accessible,” it’s easy to see where fears are coming from now that the Keeper’s out of the bag on the behind-the-scenes skinny over at Amazon Prime Video’s Mass Effect TV project.
Peter Friedlander took the helm from Jennifer Salke as Amazon’s Head of Global TV back in October, and a new report shines light on his present endeavors. He’s been reading scripts from all sorts of shows, including plenty which presently lack formal series orders—like Mass Effect. His feedback? You guessed it. “Make more accessible.”
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Today’s report comes from The Ankler, which, alas, is paywalled. (I’m personally curious to see whether analyst Lesley Goldberg got the scoop on anything relevant to Amazon’s Stargate sequel series, but I’ll have to go digging on my lonesome later. I’ve got a Mass Effect story to publish here.) Thankfully, the hard-working folks at IGN isolated the Shepard-savvy snippets for us.
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The Ankler references Prime Video’s in-the-works Mass Effect adaptation as a “pricey genre drama.” Money talks, and Peter Friedlander has words. The good news? The show is “on the verge” of a formal series order. (If you thought that was already a done deal, nope. It’s never quite that straightforward.) Friedlander’s goal is to make top-down decisions on which shows make the cut, and while Mass Effect seems likely to do so, the potentially bad news pertains to an edict that many of us have heard all too many times:
“Make it more appealing to non-gamers.”
To this end, Friedlander has requested script rewrites with that goal in mind. IGN can’t speak as to what this means, because they’re not mind readers; unfortunately, neither am I. Devil’s advocate and all, but it’s possible the scripts in their previous condition flew too close to the sun on that score, packed to bursting with nods and in-jokes to the epic trilogy it’s set after.
Rewrites don’t automatically mean failure in the making, and corporate mandates aren’t always for the worst. But, even though I’m not personally a fan of Amazon’s Fallout show, I have to wonder whether there’s a bit of woeful irony here; much of the praise for that adaptation stems from just how much love is on display for the video games it’s inspired by.
The Mass Effect show is being written chiefly by Fast & The Furious 9 scribe Daniel Casey. Doug Jung, of Star Trek Beyond and Mindhunter fame, is attached as overall showrunner. BioWare’s own Mike Gamble and longtime genre adaptation overseer Avi Arad are on board as producers.
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