some snippets from an interview Brad Wright recently had with Gateworld
GW: Stargate fans are eagerly awaiting word from MGM and SCI FI as to what's next. Is it going to be a third movie first? Is it going to be a third series first? Can you give us a status update?
BW: Yes! [Laughter] We know we're doing something. That's all I can tell you right now. I have been a bit frustrated at the time it takes for these things to unfold. Part of the reason it's taking a while is Atlantis is currently ongoing, and also because we didn't want to go into development with anything during the writer's strike because it seemed inappropriate. Even though we're Canadian we recognized it was for the American marketplace and I was respectful. I'm a member of the Writer's Guild of America, so it was wrong on many levels.
"Universe, if we do it the way we want to do it, is very expensive, and I think we've proven ourselves."
Having said that, internally Robert and I are a little bit torn, because we had such a good time making The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. Making one or two of those a year would be a damn fine thing to do, honestly. It takes up a big chunk of time writing it, a big chunk of time making it, and the post on a movie is more than twice as complicated as post on the biggest episodes. It's not like you can just knock one off while you're making a television show. It's just too much.
I also know that Stargate Universe is a good idea for a television show.
GW: Are the crew and the writers not anxious to go back to 40 hours a year and do two shows simultaneously?
BW: I'm not anxious to do that. It was almost out of necessity that we did it last time. The money we had to do Atlantis was barely enough to do it right and the dollar had just skyrocketed. When we said we could do it, it was based on a dollar that was very different.
I hate to get practical here, but every tenth of a dollar, every point, depending on the budget on a movie it's enormous. On a television show you're looking at 60 to 80 thousand dollars. That just comes off the screen. And we like things on the screen. We like to make the biggest show we can and I hate, hate, hate being so -- and I know fans don't like hearing about the nuts and bolts of production to a certain extent -- but when I see big expensive network shows with literally two and three times our budget and I think "Man, what could we do with that?" I know what we did -- we made Continuum for the budget of a regular episode of ...
GW: LOST.
BW: Exactly.
GW: Ark of Truth is doing very well.
BW: I know! It's far exceeding their expectations in terms of sales.
GW: There's no threat of striking the SGC set any time in the near future?
It costs a lot to sit there, though.
BW: It costs a lot to sit there, although we do use it. It would cost so much more to take it down and put it up again if we're doing a series of SG-1 movies. If you do the analysis, as long as we do another movie then it's worth keeping. If it looks like there are no SG-1 movies on the horizon then that's when it's going to come down. So there's your clue right there. That's why it's still up. Hint.
GW: You told us when you talked with David last fall that you and Rob were getting ready to go to SCI FI to pitch Universe. Was it received well?
BW: The pitch was received very well.
GW: And then the strike happened.
BW: The strike is only, frankly, part of it. We pitched an expensive series. The idea we have is not cheap. Universe, if we do it the way we want to do it, is very expensive, and I think we've proven ourselves, so "Can we please have enough money to do it right this time?" And if not, then honestly I don't want to do it. Why do it wrong?
GW: Are there any hints about the show's premise or characters that you're ready to go public with yet?
BW: I will say that Stargate Universe, the idea of it, is that it is set on a ship that was part of an Ancient experiment that was set in motion probably millions of years ago. One that they never saw to fruition but that we can. They got a little busy with the whole ascension thing.
Their goal for the creation of this experiment, which is to send a ship literally across the universe, and to send one ahead of it seeding the galaxies that they encounter with Stargates. And that they would one day use the ninth chevron to get there, and that's what Stargate Universe is.
Read or Listen to the full interview at Gateworld
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