Marvel Studios has finally realized that they’ve been running their TV division wrong, and they are in the process of revamping how they do things. Marvel has had some hits and misses with the shows that they’ve developed, but they’ve been doing things in an unconventional way in regards to their shows and it’s been causing them some headaches. They had to fire the writers and directors of Daredevil: Born Again because of because the quality of the show was not what it should be.
They are now figuring out how to properly handle the development of their TV shows. THR explains, “The company eschewed the traditional TV-making model. It didn’t commission pilots but instead shot entire $150 million-plus seasons of TV on the fly. It didn’t hire showrunners but instead depended on film executives to run its series. And as Marvel does for its movies, it relied on postproduction and reshoots to fix what wasn’t working.”
That’s probably not the best way to handle things, and it seems like Marvel has learned this the hard way. Brad Winderbaum, Marvel’s head of streaming, television and animation said in a statement: “We’re trying to marry the Marvel culture with the traditional television culture. It comes down to, ‘How can we tell stories in television that honor what’s so great about the source material?’”
The report goes on to say that those who work with Marvel on TV projects have “complained of a lack of central vision that has, according to sources, begun to afflict the studio’s shows with creative differences and tension. An inside says: “TV is a writer-driven medium. Marvel is a Marvel-driven medium.”
As far as the directors of the show go, another insider says that, “The whole ‘fix it in post’ attitude makes it feel like a director doesn’t matter sometimes.”
As it moves forward, Marvel is now making concrete changes in how it makes its TV shows and they will now be hiring showrunners. Winderbaum went on to say of showrunners, “It’s a term we’ve not only grown comfortable with but also learned to embrace.”
The studio will also be hiring full-time TV executives instead of borrowing executives from its film division. Winderbaum said: “We need executives that are dedicated to this medium, that are going to focus on streaming, focus on television because they are two different forms.”
As for how Marvel will revamp its development process. Showrunners will write pilots for the series along with show bibles. It’s crazy to me that they weren’t doing that already! It seems like a no-brainer in TV development. After learning how Marvel has been doing things, I’m surprised that some of the shows have been as good as they have.
They were literally just shooting an entire series on the fly and then looking at them after they were shot to see what was working and what wasn’t. Well, those days are over. Hopefully, these changes will lead to some better TV productions for Marvel.
