Editing Development hell

{{Short description|Term for media projects stuck in development}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
'''Development hell''', also known as '''development purgatory''' or '''development limbo''', is [[Media industry|media]] and [[Software industry|software]] industry [[jargon]] for a project, concept, or idea that remains in a stage of early development for a long time because of legal, technical, or artistic challenges.<ref name="Doyle_Page_55">{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Barbara Freedman |title=Make Your Movie: What You Need to Know About the Business and Politics of Filmmaking |date=2012 |publisher=Focal Press |location=Waltham, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-240-82155-9 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPzhXug9X4oC&pg=PA55 |access-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-date=March 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327101555/https://books.google.com/books?id=cPzhXug9X4oC&pg=PA55 |url-status=live }}</ref> A work may move between many sets of artistic leadership, crews, scripts, [[game engine]]s, or studios. (The related terms '''production hell''' and '''production limbo''' refer to situations in which a film has begun production but has remained unfinished for a long time without progressing to [[post-production]].)

Some projects enter development hell because they were initially designed with ambitious goals, the difficulty of meeting those goals was underestimated, and attempts to meet those goals have repeatedly failed.

The term is also applied more generally to describe any project that has unexpectedly stalled in the planning or design phase, has failed to meet its originally expected date of completion, and is languishing in those phases for what is seen as an unreasonably long time.{{fact|date=March 2025}}

Many projects that enter development hell are gradually abandoned by the involved parties and are never produced.{{fact|date=March 2025}}

== Overview ==
=== Film ===
Film industry companies buy the [[film rights]] to many popular novels, video games, and comic books, but often take years to bring those properties to the screen, having first made considerable changes to their plots, characters, and general tone. When this pre-production process takes too long, a project will often be abandoned or cancelled outright. [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] starts ten times as many projects as it releases.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Spillman|first=Susan|title=Cover Story: Writers Paid for Movies Never Made|magazine=USA Today|location=McLean, Virginia|language=en|publication-date=January 16, 1991|page=D1}}</ref> Less than two percent of all books that are [[Option (filmmaking)|optioned]] make it to the big screen.<ref name="Kean">{{cite news |last1=Kean |first1=Danuta |title=No room at the Oscars: The cinemas are full of turkeys yet that brilliant novel you read three years ago has never been made into a film. |work=The Independent on Sunday |page=1 |date=April 15, 2007}} Available via [[ProQuest]].</ref> 

As David Hughes, author of the book ''Tales From Development Hell'', has noted, one reason production is delayed is that, after producers, directors, and actors have been attached to a project, they may request script rewrites.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=David |title=Tales From Development Hell (New Updated Edition): The Greatest Movies Never Made? |publisher=Titan Books |date=2012}}</ref> Another cause of delay is that, after people have been attached to a project, they find they have conflicting interpretations of it or visions for it.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Mitchell|first=Kerrie|title=Dept. of Development Hell|magazine=Premiere|location=New York|language=en|date=February 2005|volume=18|issue=5|page=40}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Warren|first=Patricia Nell|title=Books Into Movies: Part 2 (Best Selling Novel [[The Front Runner (novel)|The Front Runner]] has Spent Over 25 Years in Development Hell)|magazine=Lambda Book Report|location=Washington|language=en|date=April 2008|volume=8|issue=9|page=9}}</ref> For example, the director and the studio executives may have different opinions about a film's casting, plot, or budget. Development delays can also result when a lead actor or a key member of the production team withdraws from the project, takes ill, or dies;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfi.edu/how-long-does-it-take-to-make-a-movie/ |title=How Long Does It Take To Make A Movie? Everything You Need To Know |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= February 16, 2022|website=www.nfi.edu |publisher=National Film Institute|access-date=29 March 2023|quote=}}</ref> when there are labor strikes involving the writers, directors, crew, or cast;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfi.edu/how-long-does-it-take-to-make-a-movie/ |title=How Long Does It Take To Make A Movie? Everything You Need To Know |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= February 16, 2022|website=www.nfi.edu |publisher=National Film Institute|access-date=29 March 2023|quote=}}</ref> when there are disputes about intellectual property rights or contract terms;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfi.edu/how-long-does-it-take-to-make-a-movie/ |title=How Long Does It Take To Make A Movie? Everything You Need To Know |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= February 16, 2022|website=www.nfi.edu |publisher=National Film Institute|access-date=29 March 2023|quote=}}</ref> when there is turnover at the studio's executive level and the new leaders have a different vision; or when, due to changes in the wider economic, cultural, or political climate, the film's topic comes to be seen as no longer marketable.<ref name="script">{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/2001/09/24/hollywood-reacts-crisis/|title=Hollywood reacts to the crisis|first1=Jeff|last1=Jensen|first2=Benjamin|last2=Svetkey|date=September 24, 2001|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|access-date=March 13, 2023|archive-date=March 14, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314062539/https://ew.com/article/2001/09/24/hollywood-reacts-crisis/|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{anchor|Production hell}}Production hell refers to a situation in which a film has entered production but has remained in that phase for a long time without progressing to post-production.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 9, 2020 |title='The New Mutants' Director Josh Boone Says The Film Never Had Reshoots |url=https://atomtickets.com/movie-news/new-mutants-never-had-reshoots/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714113858/https://atomtickets.com/movie-news/new-mutants-never-had-reshoots/ |archive-date=July 14, 2021 |access-date=July 14, 2021 |website=Atom Insider}}</ref>

=== Television ===
[[Television series]] can experience development hell between seasons, resulting in a long delay from one season to the next. Screenwriter Ken Aguado states that "development hell rarely happens in series television", because writers for a television series "typically only get a few cracks at executing a [[Pilot episode |pilot]], and if he or she doesn't deliver, the project will be quickly abandoned."<ref>{{cite web |url= https://pipelineartists.com/principles-of-hollywood-development/|title= Principles of Hollywood Development|last=Aguado |first=Ken |date=21 June 2021 |website=pipelineartists.com |publisher= Pipeline Artists|access-date=29 March 2023 |quote=}}</ref>

=== Video games ===
[[Video game development]] can be stalled for years, occasionally over a decade, often due to a project being moved to different production studios, multiple iterations of the game being created and abandoned, or difficulties with the development of the game software itself, such as loss of funding, overambitious scope, and poor development time management.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=LeBlanc |first=Wesley |title=Video Games Stuck In Development Hell: Part 2 |url=https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/11/02/video-games-stuck-in-development-hell-part-2 |url-status=live |magazine=Game Informer |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106062902/https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/11/02/video-games-stuck-in-development-hell-part-2 |archive-date=November 6, 2021 |access-date=November 7, 2021}}</ref> In the computer industry, [[vaporware]] is the term for a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is late or never actually manufactured nor officially cancelled.

=== Podcasts ===
A number of popular audio series are dedicated to discussing the topic of unmade creative projects, including ''Development Hell'', a [[Dread Central]] podcast which uncovers notable cancelled horror films.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chernov |first=Matthew |date=2021-10-26 |title=12 Horror Movie Podcasts to Make You Scream |url=https://variety.com/shop/best-horror-movie-podcasts-1235097759/ |access-date=2023-03-21 |website=Variety |language=en-US |archive-date=January 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124155247/https://variety.com/shop/best-horror-movie-podcasts-1235097759/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Causes ==
The [[concept artist]] and illustrator Sylvain Despretz has suggested that, "Development hell doesn't happen with no-name directors. It happens only with famous directors that a studio doesn't dare break up with. And that's how you end up for two years just, you know, [[polishing a turd]]. Until, finally, somebody walks away, at great cost."<ref>{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?]] |last=Schnepp, Jon (director) |type=Documentary |year=2015 |time=1:27:52}}</ref>

With video games, slow progress and a lack of funds may lead developers to focus their resources elsewhere. Occasionally, completed portions of a game fail to meet expectations, with developers subsequently choosing to abandon the project rather than start from scratch. The commercial failure of a released game may also result in any prospective sequels being delayed or cancelled.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/05/10/the-13-biggest-video-games-that-never-came-out|title=The 13 Biggest Video Games That Never Came Out|last=Johnson|first=Leif|website=IGN|date=May 10, 2016|access-date=May 31, 2022|archive-date=April 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427044729/https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/05/10/the-13-biggest-video-games-that-never-came-out|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Turnaround deals ==
If a film is in development but never receives the necessary production funds, another studio may execute a [[turnaround (filmmaking)|turnaround deal]] and successfully produce the film. For example, [[Columbia Pictures]] stopped production of ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]'' (1982). [[Universal Pictures]] then picked up the film and made it a success. When a studio completely abandons a film project, the costs are written off as part of the studio's [[Overhead (business)|overhead]], thereby reducing taxable income.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McDonald|first1=Paul|last2=Wasko|first2=Janet|title=Hollywood Film Industry|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|location=Hoboken, New Jersey|language=en|date=December 13, 2007|page=54|isbn=978-1-4051-3388-3}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Design by committee]]
* [[Law of triviality]]
* [[List of media notable for being in development hell]]
* [[Scope creep]]
* [[Turnaround (filmmaking)]]
* [[Vaporware]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{filmmaking}}

[[Category:Film production]]
[[Category:Video game development]]