One of the most important successes of Netflix in recent times it may not have reached the platform. Because? Due to an economic difference in relation to distribution rights. This put the MGM project and the streaming video platform on the air. It seems strange, considering the financial power of both. However, these things happen. The decision of an executive, finally, was key for Wednesday could develop.
Wednesday can be understood as an appendix to the tradition that the history of the addams family built on film and television. From the early 60s to the present, with this Netflix series, the franchise has remained in the minds of different generations. Much of its mythology was brought back by the service and, perhaps to its own surprise, it turned out to be quite the success.
Curiously, in the case of Wednesday, is that there was a time when this production could not have been released on Netflix; perhaps it was even stored on a hard drive due to a conflict between the companies that negotiated the rights. This is how its creators explained it, Alfred Gough and thousands thousand.
Wednesday and the story
that almost prevents its development
By mid-December 2022, Wednesday it had become the third most-watched series in Netflix history. That not only led to positive results for the story and the platform, but also revived part of the mythology associated with the Addams Family, one of the most famous in the world of entertainment.
During his passage through the podcast inside of youconducted by michael rosenbaumAlfred Gough and Miles Millar explained the following about the negotiation process between MGM and Netflix and the development of Wednesday, which at the time was not yet fully written. Gough said the following:
“Suddenly, we couldn’t make a deal, the negotiation was dead. But then Steve Stark had MGM bosses fund a writers room on Zoom for 10 weeks so we could craft the rest of the first season. We thought it was crazy: ‘What platform is going to buy a show that (the producers) weren’t involved with and had nothing to do with development?’”
Alfred Gough, in inside of you.
Those questions were followed by a certainty. In Gough’s words: “We also thought, ‘If this keeps (the project) alive, we’ll do it.’ So, it was Miles (Millar), myself and two other writers. It wasn’t cheap. It became the first Zoom room we had, because we started during the first week of confinement (due to the COVID-19)”.
For his part, Millar recalled the tension they experienced after sending the script to the actors chosen for the characters in Wednesday:
“Usually, you know, if you send an actor a script, you never get an immediate response. It takes them eight weeks to respond. So, time goes by and you think: “Oh, did you finally read it?”. It causes you to contact them because you almost never receive a response ”,
Miles Miller, in inside of you.
This is how one of the most watched series in the history of Netflix took shape, from the bet of an executive and four writers who wrote the script while meeting on Zoom. Wednesday premiered on November 23, 2022. Two weeks later, it was already a success.