Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl has gotta be the only good film to come out of IP mining. I cannot recommend Dan Golding’s video essay A Theory of Film Music enough, and also highly recommend his book Star Wars After Lucas (he also has a great talk on Nostalgia Piano, but I think that one might have just been a conference exclusive) You can follow the show on Twitter (@goingrogue_pod), Instagram (@goingrogue_podcast), or Tumblr or Bluesky (@goingroguepod) or for...

Nottingham was a high concept spec script that reimagined the Robin Hood legend from the perspective of the Sheriff of Nottingham that asked whether we should follow the law, or our heroes. Robin Hood is a movie where Robin Hood does not rob from the rich or give to the poor, but his dad did write the Magna Carta. This is the story of how Nottingham became Robin Hood. You can follow the show on twitter or tumblr @goingroguepod, or for slightly less hinged content, follow @tansyclipboard...

This is not the first podcast about Don’t Worry Darling. But this is one of the few that discusses the film, and its transformation from a Black Mirror-esque spec script written by Dick Van Dyke’s grandsons into a beautiful but poorly paced film with a confusing message. And somehow, between those two, there was a solid, compelling script. But it was paired with a directorial intention that was fundamentally opposed to the story, and the film began to unravel from there. CONTENT WARNING:...

In October 2008, Chris Sanders was asked to take over a troublesome film with a March 2010 release date. He immediately called his old co-director Dean Deblois. Somehow, despite everything we've ever discussed on this podcast, the film they made is good. How To Train Your Dragon is the opposite of almost every film we've covered before - an instant classic that pushed the animation form and made bold calls on a tight deadline, and actually stuck the landing. But to understand how it pulled...

Seven years after Rogue One, Gareth Edwards is back with his new film The Creator, an original science fiction blockbuster about robots, AI and true love. The film has been surrounded by breathless reporting of its $86 million budget, the $4000 camera it was shot on and the future of blockbuster filmmaking - but, like most film reporting, the truth is far more complicated than the headlines. And it's oddly fitting for a film about AI to have its human artists so quickly erased. You can...

Dr Horrible’s Sing-along Blog was born from the 2007 Writers Strike as a bold new way to take power back from the studios. Or at least, that’s one version of the story. Another involves a long-gestating podcast project. Yet another involves Jeff Bezos. A 42 Minute webseries that apparently earned Joss Whedon more money than The Avengers, Dr Horrible was released almost six months after the Writers Strike but is indelibly tied to it. But was it the first of many, or lightning in a...

The South Park episode Canada on Strike first aired in April 2008 - a “biting” “satire” released well after the Writers Strike had left the news cycle, and one of many media pieces that helped cement the legend that the entire strike had been about The Internet. But one of the many issues that the WGA had brought to the table was the very reason that the South Park team were so annoyed with the Guild in the first place - while the Guild were on strike, South Park and most of the animation...

In 2006, more than a year before the Writers Strike, twelve producers of America’s Next Top Model walked off their job to demand a new contract: as Writers protected by the Writers Guild of America. The production company refused to bargain with the WGA, worried it would set a dangerous precedent by giving Reality TV producers higher wages, residuals and writer credits. The WGA, on the other hand, were determined to set that precedent. The Top Model Strike was a disaster. Reality TV was...

In 2005, Tim Kring took a 5 hour walk with his old friend Jeph Loeb, and pitched him the pilot episode of his new show - Heroes. Inspired by a structural writing challenge, a desire to see good in ordinary people and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, Heroes was one of the biggest new shows of 2006. By the end of 2007, it had all come crashing down. The Writer’s Strike is often held responsible for Heroes’s demise, but as usual, there’s a lot more to the story. Content Warning:  Les...

In 2005, an American adaption of a UK cringe-com written by a former Simpsons writer became an unexpected hit on iTunes. So despite middling ratings, the show was given a second season and a second chance. It went on to become the defining sitcom of a generation, and one of the most streamed series of all time. Through every early development of online content, The Office was right there, riding the wave of technology and culture trends. And when the Writers Guild of America went on...

Six months of pre-production. Six months of principal photography. Six weeks in the edit. Quantum of Solace has long been seen as a victim of the Writers Strike. But the strike was just one of many, many roadblocks that the film blissfully drove straight through. Striking Out is a new series of Going Rogue about the 07/08 Writers Guild of America strike, exploring the issues of the strike by looking at the films and TV shows affected by it.  CONTENT WARNING: In 2023 Paul Haggis...

In 2005, Daniel Craig was announced as the new James Bond. On the same day, producer Michael G Wilson mentioned that work had already started on Craig's second Bond film. That film would eventually become Quantum of Solace. And it would be remembered less as a film and more as a casualty of the 2007 Writers Strike.  But how much did the strike really affect Quantum of Solace? Striking Out is a new series of Going Rogue about the 07/08 Writers Guild of America strike, exploring the...

In 2007, The Writers Guild of America went on strike. In 2023, they might do it again. So this is season three of Going Rogue: Striking Out. Striking Out starts on May 7th, with weekly episodes. This is basically the same promo as the one at the end of Going Solo but now it has a date attached. For smart threads and dumb memes, follow the show on twitter @GoingRogue_Pod For a daily update on the various ways Tansy is losing her mind thanks to pop culture and capitalism, follow...

On a dark summer night on the set of American Graffiti, Ron Howard asked George Lucas what film he wanted to do next. Lucas was shy with details, but he said it was sort of a Buck Rogers film with Stanley Kubrick special effects, but really, really fast. Both Howard and Lucas would go onto wildly successful directorial careers, but while George Lucas was stuck in a galaxy far far away, Howard became a journeyman, directing all styles, genres and budgets. When Solo: A Star Wars Story needed a...

Cameras rolled on Solo: A Star Wars Story in early 2017. For six-ish months, Phil Lord and Chris Miller directed their version of the film - a highly stylised, ambitious take on Han Solo’s backstory. But in putting their version to film, Lord and Miller used the filmmaking process they’d honed over decades of work together - improvising, trying things out and throwing things away in pursuit of the best story.  But that process might not have been the best one for Solo. At home in LA,...

In 1997, Christopher Miller lucked his way into a meeting with Disney’s TV Animation Department - and he turned them down, because he had to study for midterms. But when he finally did go to LA and meet with Disney, he brought along his best friend, Phil Lord. Twenty years later, Lord and Miller were chosen to direct Solo: A Star Wars Story, after a meteoric rise from writers of oft-cancelled sitcoms to one of the most well regarded directing teams in Hollywood. They would not finish the...

In October 2012, Lawrence Kasdan was asked if he wanted to write another Star Wars film.  He didn't. But when he went to turn down George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy in person, someone mentioned they also wanted to make a Han Solo movie.  Five and a half years later, Solo: A Star Wars Story became the first ever Star Wars box office bomb. You think you know what happened, but exactly how Solo went off the rails is a much more complicated, nuanced and unhinged tale than you might have...

In December 2016, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was released into the world. With six weeks of reshoots, a painfully short edit, an unexpected election and a new composer after the first one dropped out due to "scheduling issues", the film was finally finished - the day before its premiere. But was it successful? And more importantly, was it political? In this final episode of Going Rogue, we look at Rogue One's release, and legacy, and the new life it's about to take in Andor. Rogue One...

In 2001, The Bourne Identity went through four rounds of reshoots, after going massively over budget and over schedule. The final product, partly directed and potentially edited by producer Frank Marshall instead of director Doug Liman, was a hit. Liman wasn't invited back for the sequel, but writer Tony Gilroy was. In 2016, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story went through six weeks of reshoots and a massive, post-directors cut re-edit, under the guidance of Tony Gilroy - initially as a writer,...

By early 2016, Rogue One had wrapped shooting and moved into the edit. Editors Jabez Olssen and Colin Goudie had been cutting the film since the day cameras rolled, but with director Gareth Edwards's loose, unplanned shooting style and habit of shooting images over story, the edit would take, according to Edwards, "three years". They had nine months. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, a complete different team were pouring over the Rogue One rushes to create a much shorter version of the film...

In August 2015, cameras rolled on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - and they rolled, and rolled. Gareth Edwards's unconventional shooting style emphasised improvisation not just in performance but also in blocking, camera placement, lighting and all other elements of filming. The film's two distinct shooting styles, initially separated as Empire and Rebellion, started to blur, and the pursuit of shots that felt good often overshadowed the script. The script, which was still changing, being...

In 2013, Gareth Edwards pretended he was going to get lunch, and instead went to a meeting with Kiri Hart at Lucasfilm. He was one of a handful of promising young directors who'd been handpicked to direct a new Star Wars film, off the strength of his low-budget debut Monsters. Edwards was offered Destroyer of Worlds, originally pitched by VFX legend and Edwards's personal hero, John Knoll.  Gary Whitta went into his meeting at Lucasfilm surprised to be considered for a film project at all,...

In 2003, John Knoll heard a rumour on the set of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It sparked a chain of events that would span two decades, several films and one massive corporate takeover, and would finally result in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. This is the story of Rogue One, told by someone who has spent more time thinking about the film than anyone who worked on it (except John Knoll). Each episode of Going Rogue covers a different phase of the film's life and the different...