Ultimate Dolph

GeneralMcFaiL wrote:The Godfather for the new era of TV for me will always be The Sopranos... that opened the door for shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men etc..

AR: A script you wrote for a hugely anticipated series titled The International starring Dolph Lundgren and created by Sylvester Stallone, was announced, is it an action heavy series? What can you tell us about The International?

KS: The International was sold to CBS just pre-Covid, making good use of Dolph’s action chops and what I found to be a great laconic sense of humor. Dolph was going to play an ex-operative for a black ops branch of the UN, drawn back into the game when his mentor — who had betrayed him 15 years ago to become a gun for hire — resurfaces. Sly was interested in playing the mentor for the first arc of episodes.

The show was aimed at that sweet spot of delivering outsized action and fast paced episodes, some of the moral grey tones that make spy shows interesting, and modulated for network consumption.

AR: When can we expect release?

KS: It didn’t get picked up to pilot, so… never.

AR: Why didn’t CBS pick it up? I figured having Lundgren & Sly attached would have been an instant sale?

KS: You never really know why something doesn’t go. In Hollywood, people are very careful not to tell you what they actually think, for fear that you might hold it against them. Looking at what they picked up this season, it might have been too straight down the middle for them, though that seemed to be exactly what they responded to.

AR: Do you think it will be pitched to another network? Or is it just another shelved project?

KS: I think it’s dead, but you never know. It was developed pretty specifically to CBS’ needs, and CBS has a pretty specific house style, so other networks didn’t respond.

AR: Even though it didn’t come to screens, did you get to work with Sly on the script? If so what was it like writing with him?

KS: I didn’t get to work with Sly on the script. He was involved in the development of the premise, along with Dolph. That was a really good experience. And both of them are great in the room when you pitch; funny and relaxed. And it never hurts to have iconic actors sitting at the table with you. We sold it — in the room — to three networks.

In retrospect, we may have picked the wrong deal, but there’s no way of knowing. Networks commission 60-80 drama pilots every season, in order to shoot 8 or so, in order to put maybe 4 on the air. So you go in knowing that you’re threading a needle, working against their needs that year, favors owed, what’s leaving and what’s staying. I’ve sold upwards of 20 pilots over the years, been involved with the development of at least a dozen more… and only seen 6 or 7 actually shot.