David Greenwalt, Moonlight

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goldenboy

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Might Greenwalt help make this show watchable? Don't know if I could take Angel with a "Ghost Whisperer" vibe.

Greenwalt bites into 'Moonlight'

By Nellie Andreeva

June 1, 2007

"Angel" co-creator/executive producer David Greenwalt has been tapped to serve as executive producer/showrunner on CBS' new drama series "Moonlight."

The project, which was filmed as a presentation, will be retooled before a full-length pilot is shot. One of the two female leads already has been recast, and other casting changes are being considered.

"Moonlight," from Warner Bros. TV and Silver Pictures TV, centers on a private investigator (Alex O'Loughlin) who is a vampire. In his eternal life, he is joined by his former bride (Amber Valletta), a seductive vampire who bit him 60 years ago, as well as a deceitful ally (Rade Serbedzija) who also is undead. The PI's life is turned upside down when he falls for a beautiful mortal woman. In the presentation, Shannon Lucio played the part, which is now being recast.

On the series, Greenwalt will serve as an executive producer alongside Joel Silver, the project's writers Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson, director Rod Holcomb and Gerard Bocaccio.

Greenwalt previously served as showrunner on NBC's "Kidnapped," UPN's "Jake 2.0" and ABC's "Miracles." In addition to co-creating "Angel" with Joss Whedon, Greenwalt was a writer-producer on Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." He also worked as a consulting producer for Sci Fi Channel's "Eureka."

Greenwalt is repped by the Kaplan-Stahler-Gumer-Braun Agency and attorney Alan Hergott.
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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr...sion/news/e3ic037e503baf6e57c2233c754efeb30c9
 
If CBS is hiring someone with experience for a vampire themed show you have to wonder how good is this show going to be? Retooling the project, recasting, and considering adding character before the full length shoot...
Does anyone else have that feeling this is going to be 'Angel lite'?
 
How common is it to film a "presentation", then pitch the concept to the suits before a pilot stage?

I'm thinking "Angel", without the charm or humor or smarts. But I'd love to see otherwise.
 
Well, CBS-ifying a project isn't unusual. In fact we've discussed if before, haven't we? I think it was with the other Angel alumni, Shawn Ryan, when he brought out The Unit.

So basically, the way I read it, CBS passed on picking up the real Angel when it was canceled. It was too unique. Too going in it's own direction. However years later they want to do a CBS version.

By bringing in the co-creator of Angel though, they do prove the comparisons people have been making between Angel and Moonlight are just.

It's become more interesting though. Now it's less "that Angel rip-off", and more Angel going in another direction, which is intriguing.

One thing I've always found puzzling about Greenwalt. He's the one Mutant Enemy guy who doesn't seem to use any talent from his Whedonverse days. I sometimes suspect there's hard feelings there.
 
"Presentations"

goldenboy said:
How common is it to film a "presentation", then pitch the concept to the suits before a pilot stage?

I'm thinking "Angel", without the charm or humor or smarts. But I'd love to see otherwise.
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It's not really that unusual for pilots of new series to be two hours long and presented as a two part premier (remember "Welcome To The Hellmouth") so that if the series doesn't sell, they can recover the production costs by selling it as a stand alone movie. On the other hand, the movie can be shown in the fall, then assessed and possibly re-cast for a mid season replacement if the movie went over well.
 
You don't mean this one do you - Buffy unaired pilot. That was 30 minutes long.

I think I get what GB means though. Made as a presentation independent of pickup as a series. I can think of a couple that might apply. The made for TV movies Firestarter, and Doctor Strange seem to have been made with a series in mind, but were never picked up as one.

This Moonlight one though seems more like the Drive, Global Frequency, or Dark Shadows pilots, which were made to present to the studios for series pickup, then the general public never sees them. In Drives case they retooled it with at least one major actor replacement just as was done with this one.
 
Actually each season at least four or five pilots from every network are only presentations, 10-20 minutes long. So it's not really uncommon at all. Maybe THAT'S why the trailer on CBS.com doesn't look very good. It could turn out completely different by the time they actually film the pilot.
 
Yeah, I just named some examples which might be known by the Buffy community for different reasons, but there is this other thing, I've always been curious about. They're full length made-for-TV movies which were obviously made with a series in mind. I gave a couple of examples of those. What are those all about I wonder. Another example might be the American Doctor Who. I don't think that's what the Moonlight one was though. I got the impression that was more like a conventional short pilot.

There's this other thing I saw once. It was kind of like a proof of concept thing, with little bits patched together. It's an Angel thing. I saw it at YouTube. There's a lot about pilots I don't understand.
 
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