With the recent success of their film-to-TV adaptations Teen Wolf, MTV is apparently moving forward with a scripted series based on the Kevin Williamson/Wes Craven horror franchise, SCREAM.
What’s that? You didn’t ask for it? Oh. Well, you’re going to get it anyway. Former MTV execs Tony DiSanto and Liz Gateley are developing the series, which currently is in the very early stages with no writer or cast attached. It’s unclear whether Williamson or Craven would be involved at all, but somehow I doubt it.
I don’t see this as a terrible idea, but more like an idea at the wrong network. The SCREAM series has been a relatively hardcore, R-rated slasher series and I’m not sure that the demographic for The Real World and 16 and Pregnant is the same for a SCREAM TV series. After the phenomenal success of American Horror Story on FX, I think that a mature-rated horror TV show can be done and done well, but I think it comes down to where it’s being played.
MTV caters to a specific audience and one may argue that that same audience is the one which has made the SCREAM franchise as successful as it is. However, I’m not sure that the integrity and style of the films could accurately be translated to the network. Surely, we’d get a much more watered-down, “teen issues” heavy horror soap opera and not the tongue-in-cheek, twisted-psyche, entrail-spewing slashfest that the series has been known for.
What do you think? Is MTV the right network for this or is it just a bad idea all around?