Writing Staff Fired From AMC’s Walking Dead

What’s the best way to celebrate the success of AMC’s adaptation of The Walking Dead, which finishes its first season this weekend? If you said “By firing all the writers and relying on freelancers to write the second season,” then it’s very possible that you’re series showrunner and executive producer Frank Darabont, who is reported to have done that very thing (Officially, AMC has only confirmed “changes to the writing staff,” but has not commented further).

The lack of writing staff is commonplace in other countries – The BBC’s Doctor Who is written by freelancers and overseen by a showrunner, for example – but almost unknown in the US, and there are already rumblings that Darabont’s move may run afoul of the Writer’s Guild of America. With a second season more than twice as long as the first, it’ll be interesting to see how this move (if real) affects the writing of the series – Will Darabont have time to oversee each episode’s creation, as well as act as producer and director?

More On Techland:

What’s Special About This Week’s “The Walking Dead”

“The Walking Dead” Is Here to Stay

Video: Kirkman Says The Walking Dead is Like Mad Men, Except With Zombies

chimparzan

Hopefully a new writing staff sticks closer to the comics. The show has been great but other than the first episode there hasnt been a story line from the comics, the Walking Dead has been a really fun watch even in spite of that though.
richardsrussell

Or you could try the J. Michael Straczynski route and write everything yourself. Joe probably single-handedly accounted for a blip in the sales of uppers during the run of Babylon 5.
charlieromeobravo

I don’t think that the show has suffered one bit from straying from the comic book’s outline. The TV series has, IMO of course, done a better job fleshing out the characters and relationships than the book did in the first arc or two. Besides, why would we want to watch a TV show that reproduces the books verbatim?
http://crichton007.wordpress.com crichton007

@chimparzan, I think that @charlieromeobravo is right. I like that it is similar but if this was an identical (or even nearly identical) remake of the comics I’d lose interest pretty quickly.

BTW, there have been story lines from the comics is the other episodes (save the CDC part) but they have been pulled from later issues and applied to slightly different circumstances.

Staying true to the characters the main idea of the plot is interesting but trust that Darabont will make something worth watching rather than a straight up remake of the comics.
chimparzan

Its not that I think the show has been bad, I have loved the episodes so far. I just think as far as they stray from the original story line they might go too far and we will never see major events from the comics. It dosnt have to be identical or even nearly identical, but it would be nice to slightly resemble.