Is Part Two coming soon? It was an amazing read, but all through the read I was like "yeah, that's normal Hollywood behavior..." (sadly) and waiting for the really fucked up stuff to start.
It was really nice to see someone go through it so step by step like that and be honest. I try to give aspiring TV and film writers the harsh truth about the business all the time, but this is so detailed I'm going to forward to people.
It's one of the reasons I write these stories. Some of it is probably creative exorcism, but mostly, nobody told me this stuff when I was coming up. Now that I'm established, suddenly everyone has these stories. It's backward.
This was a fascinating read. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.
I wonder. There are always talks of a producer hellbent on turning a good idea into a total clusterfrak - the infamous Kevin Smith story about Superman vs the Giant Spider comes to mind. Does it ever happen that they turn out to be right? As in, a producer suggesting a radical change in development that turns out to be a success?
There are several levels of response to this question. I don't have the time to be literary about it, so I'm just going to lay out some bulletpoints:
1) The short answer is: yes, this happens.
2) The longer answer is: it should never happen through coercive or otherwise abusive behavior.
3) The even longer answer is: when it does happen and the writer agrees with them, the writer almost always makes those changes. If the writer disagrees, the employer settles the debate. In my case, the employer's wishes were persistently disregarded.
4) Success is not the only metric to use. Look at cinema. There's a long list of films that were successes that everyone, including audiences, agreed were terrible or at least disappointing. Sometimes, success comes because of a moment in time nobody predicts. Sometimes failure comes to projects that were wonderful and brilliant and deserved much more.
5) I don't know if any of this specifically answers your question. But producers are very often additive to a project. I have worked with many brilliant ones. The tragedy is, explaining all the ways someone supported you and made a project better is both not an interesting read *and* how it's supposed to work - meaning, there's nothing for readers to learn from the experience. I've long tried to think of a way to adequately express my admiration for good producers here, but I have yet to find a way that isn't...boring.
I was a bit afraid my question could be a full article prompt. :) Thank you for taking the time to answer!
Fair point about abuse and coercion. Goes without saying that it's never OK, even if the point being made is correct. But it's even worse when used to push stupidity.
When I said "success", what I had in mind was both in the commercial and artistic sense. I could probably worded it better. Of course, "artistic success" as a metric is such a subjective one, and so difficult to quantify.
It seems to be a universal, frustrating truth that writing or talking about incompetence or malice is more compelling than expressing admiration. Here's another one: the breach between how things are supposed to work, and what some people seem to find acceptable, seems to grow ever wider.
I really loved this show when it aired, and I just finished a rewatch - and I still love it. The innovations on the source material were really fun, and the historical inaccuracies were so absurd that I just filed them away as “Victorian cosplay.” I could watch several episodes in a row without picking up my phone and scrolling. It was that good!
The only thing that made me truly cringe in 2013 AND 2025 was the Latin: “order of the dragon” is Ordo Draconis. Draco is a third declension noun, meaning the noun stem changes in all non-subject cases. Of the dragon = genitive = draconis.
Did someone use the Latin or try to on the show? I wouldn’t know. I was only able to watch the first episode. Years later, I tried to watch more and gave up.
They said it constantly, it was on a giant stained glass window, on documents…I’m pretty sure an ancient order dedicated to the Christian god before England’s schism with Rome would know the grammar. Not your fault! Horror films mangle Latin constantly. Maybe demons are grammar pedants and mangling the Latin really irritates them. “Begone, fiend, or I shall completely disregard subject-verb agreement!”
Great post, Cole! It was interesting to read such a detailed, “page turner” account of a screen writer’s experience. Certainly some of it rang familiar in my own experiences. Why is it that big professional events like these often coincide with big personal events, I wonder … Glad you survived to tell your tale …
I think corporate America qualifies. True story: I once presided over a 200K market research project with the goal of creating an umbrella branding for a line of especially lightweight portable computers. A VP made the final decision and she chose the name Armada. You know, like that group of big heavy ships that sank on their maiden voyage? Definitely evokes mobility/portability amirite. The path to getting to this decision made me want to poke my eye out. Punch line; whenever a journalist asked the obvious questions about the origins of this terrible name, she had them call ME.
Ha! Every time someone asked the showrunner of "DRACULA" a question about what happened next in the series, he'd turn to me like I had the answers. Eventually, even in front of NBC brass, I'd say some version of, "I have no idea. I don't understand anything that's going on in the story anymore."
I wouldn't even watch a second season of the show, and I created it. On its best day, it didn't equal the worst moment in "Hannibal". But that all said, I'm glad you took anything of value from it. It helps blunt how disappointing and often embarrassing the whole experience was for me.
That must have been a nightmare for you. I know all too well how they maneuver themselves to get what they want. It's like living your horror picture. Great picture on your wedding day. I can say that's the best that came out of the ordeal. Thank you for such a fun read!👏👏
Fascinating stuff. I enjoyed the Dracula series and was dissapointed when it didn't get a second season. Appreciate knowing what was going on behind the scenes.
Well, wow who knew the real truth of what’s it’s like to be a screenwriter?!? TY for sharing this, reading it was like a in depth version of a behind the scenes episode at the end of TWD or something. GREAT read! My hubby and I just finished watching your show not knowing it was 10 years old, my husband and I laughed, cried (me at least) and bit our nails wondering what would happen next. When Mina would realize Dracula was meant to be with HIM not Johnathan. For what it’s worth we thought the show was spectacular! BRAVO NOT too much blood, it’s a vampire show for God sales! It was sexy, scary, exciting and WE WANT MORE! To my horror I realized too late that there would be no second season. We would never get to see Mina and Dracula 🧛 in a new stage of their relationship in your adaptation. Sad, doing research on as to why is how I found this blog of sorts. You probably will never see me message bc I’m always late to the tv game as we like to binge a show (I forget and have to rewatch before a 2nd season). I was praying it was on another network (we watched it on AMC+) and I’m sorry Mr. Smiley gave you such a hard time. Just Know there’s a special place in the 6th circle of hell for him for ruining who knows how many shows we would have loved. All I can say is trust yourself! You are an incredible writer and we completely adored your version of Dracula.
Sighing and groaning and shaking my head and ruefully laughing the whole time. Yup, I'm familiar with all this. As I say about my screenwriter-for-hire career, "I've earned myself a very modest pension by getting my heart broken approximately 42 times."
It's a crazy business in every possible way. I find it creatively debilitating and yet I love the medium so much I cannot stop returning to it. By the way, I have to read the essay you shared on my John Wayne post. I haven't forgotten about it!
Would def-ly be interested in reading more after catching the 4-part version of this article on Medium. I love the work of Mr. Knauf myself but I can understand there being disagreements on such a project.
I feel like writing about 1000 words in my comment but let me start somewhat briefly. My wife and I loved “Dracula” for sure. We kept looking for what happened to it and read all kinds of rumors. I eventually gave up, but days ago I searched again and it took me to your post.
On one hand, I want to unabashedly compliment the show, but now knowing what you wrote, I feel that compliment would give you scattershot feelings since you had all of these cooks in the kitchen trying to take credit. Some even trying to burn the soup, some stealing the recipe, some slipping vodka into it, but some genuinely trying to make it great in honor of your vision and talents. Hope that last one gives you some optimism.
The problem with this process (as I learned from you) is these mixed responses are all literally happening at the same time - on whims. Not a lot of runway to enjoy the ride before another chef steps in to add their own spices. And it may be arsenic.
We were huge Tudors fans so we knew a lot about JRM and his genius. So that certainly brought us in. He seemed like a great fit.
I have had my toe in some of the world you describe and can see how it can go sideways very quickly.
For now, I write on Substack to enjoy baseball with fans. I have been pitched on some very cool baseball story ideas from some fascinating people so that has been fun, but my eyes are much more open now. :)
Is Part Two coming soon? It was an amazing read, but all through the read I was like "yeah, that's normal Hollywood behavior..." (sadly) and waiting for the really fucked up stuff to start.
Probably around October, around the series' ten-year anniversary. I did post a follow-up about the reaction to this piece. Do you work in Hollywood? https://colehaddon.substack.com/p/more-the-horror-of-dracula-lessons
It was really nice to see someone go through it so step by step like that and be honest. I try to give aspiring TV and film writers the harsh truth about the business all the time, but this is so detailed I'm going to forward to people.
It's one of the reasons I write these stories. Some of it is probably creative exorcism, but mostly, nobody told me this stuff when I was coming up. Now that I'm established, suddenly everyone has these stories. It's backward.
Yeah. And comics. Comics are much more fun, generally. Even with all their own problems.
But like, I knew who you were talking about, and who The Fixer was, because I had a pilot at NBC at that same time.
I now understand who you are. Is it possible to contact you off this chain? I have access to my subscribers' emails, but can't work out what yours is.
It's your most recent signup today, my name with some numbers behind it. Private email.
This was a fascinating read. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.
I wonder. There are always talks of a producer hellbent on turning a good idea into a total clusterfrak - the infamous Kevin Smith story about Superman vs the Giant Spider comes to mind. Does it ever happen that they turn out to be right? As in, a producer suggesting a radical change in development that turns out to be a success?
There are several levels of response to this question. I don't have the time to be literary about it, so I'm just going to lay out some bulletpoints:
1) The short answer is: yes, this happens.
2) The longer answer is: it should never happen through coercive or otherwise abusive behavior.
3) The even longer answer is: when it does happen and the writer agrees with them, the writer almost always makes those changes. If the writer disagrees, the employer settles the debate. In my case, the employer's wishes were persistently disregarded.
4) Success is not the only metric to use. Look at cinema. There's a long list of films that were successes that everyone, including audiences, agreed were terrible or at least disappointing. Sometimes, success comes because of a moment in time nobody predicts. Sometimes failure comes to projects that were wonderful and brilliant and deserved much more.
5) I don't know if any of this specifically answers your question. But producers are very often additive to a project. I have worked with many brilliant ones. The tragedy is, explaining all the ways someone supported you and made a project better is both not an interesting read *and* how it's supposed to work - meaning, there's nothing for readers to learn from the experience. I've long tried to think of a way to adequately express my admiration for good producers here, but I have yet to find a way that isn't...boring.
I was a bit afraid my question could be a full article prompt. :) Thank you for taking the time to answer!
Fair point about abuse and coercion. Goes without saying that it's never OK, even if the point being made is correct. But it's even worse when used to push stupidity.
When I said "success", what I had in mind was both in the commercial and artistic sense. I could probably worded it better. Of course, "artistic success" as a metric is such a subjective one, and so difficult to quantify.
It seems to be a universal, frustrating truth that writing or talking about incompetence or malice is more compelling than expressing admiration. Here's another one: the breach between how things are supposed to work, and what some people seem to find acceptable, seems to grow ever wider.
I really loved this show when it aired, and I just finished a rewatch - and I still love it. The innovations on the source material were really fun, and the historical inaccuracies were so absurd that I just filed them away as “Victorian cosplay.” I could watch several episodes in a row without picking up my phone and scrolling. It was that good!
The only thing that made me truly cringe in 2013 AND 2025 was the Latin: “order of the dragon” is Ordo Draconis. Draco is a third declension noun, meaning the noun stem changes in all non-subject cases. Of the dragon = genitive = draconis.
Did someone use the Latin or try to on the show? I wouldn’t know. I was only able to watch the first episode. Years later, I tried to watch more and gave up.
They said it constantly, it was on a giant stained glass window, on documents…I’m pretty sure an ancient order dedicated to the Christian god before England’s schism with Rome would know the grammar. Not your fault! Horror films mangle Latin constantly. Maybe demons are grammar pedants and mangling the Latin really irritates them. “Begone, fiend, or I shall completely disregard subject-verb agreement!”
Dracula was amazing. I loved the script, the cast, the mood, everything. Thank you for creating it and sharing your journey.
I'm glad you enjoyed the series, Kim!
Great post, Cole! It was interesting to read such a detailed, “page turner” account of a screen writer’s experience. Certainly some of it rang familiar in my own experiences. Why is it that big professional events like these often coincide with big personal events, I wonder … Glad you survived to tell your tale …
Thank you. I survived, and now I try to laugh about it. Sorry you've experienced your own madness.
Same! I count myself very fortunate overall, but I’ve got crazy stories. On to the next one!
That was depressing. I guess every industry has its talentless power mad parasitic shitholes.
Yep. But not all of them result in stories this ridiculous. I'm glad I'm able to laugh about it now.
I think corporate America qualifies. True story: I once presided over a 200K market research project with the goal of creating an umbrella branding for a line of especially lightweight portable computers. A VP made the final decision and she chose the name Armada. You know, like that group of big heavy ships that sank on their maiden voyage? Definitely evokes mobility/portability amirite. The path to getting to this decision made me want to poke my eye out. Punch line; whenever a journalist asked the obvious questions about the origins of this terrible name, she had them call ME.
Ha! Every time someone asked the showrunner of "DRACULA" a question about what happened next in the series, he'd turn to me like I had the answers. Eventually, even in front of NBC brass, I'd say some version of, "I have no idea. I don't understand anything that's going on in the story anymore."
SEASON 2 PLEASE!!! F HANNIBAL... Sorry... But I need SEASON 2 OF DRACULA
I wouldn't even watch a second season of the show, and I created it. On its best day, it didn't equal the worst moment in "Hannibal". But that all said, I'm glad you took anything of value from it. It helps blunt how disappointing and often embarrassing the whole experience was for me.
You definitely possess an intestinal fortitude I lack. And better credit :)
Do you know who I am? Nobody?
I don’t know if I have that fortitude either, to be honest. I survived, and that’s enough.
That must have been a nightmare for you. I know all too well how they maneuver themselves to get what they want. It's like living your horror picture. Great picture on your wedding day. I can say that's the best that came out of the ordeal. Thank you for such a fun read!👏👏
As I like to say, my agony is my readers’ pleasure!
Fascinating stuff. I enjoyed the Dracula series and was dissapointed when it didn't get a second season. Appreciate knowing what was going on behind the scenes.
I'm glad you enjoyed the series more than I did - heh. Thanks for reading, Kimberly!
Well, wow who knew the real truth of what’s it’s like to be a screenwriter?!? TY for sharing this, reading it was like a in depth version of a behind the scenes episode at the end of TWD or something. GREAT read! My hubby and I just finished watching your show not knowing it was 10 years old, my husband and I laughed, cried (me at least) and bit our nails wondering what would happen next. When Mina would realize Dracula was meant to be with HIM not Johnathan. For what it’s worth we thought the show was spectacular! BRAVO NOT too much blood, it’s a vampire show for God sales! It was sexy, scary, exciting and WE WANT MORE! To my horror I realized too late that there would be no second season. We would never get to see Mina and Dracula 🧛 in a new stage of their relationship in your adaptation. Sad, doing research on as to why is how I found this blog of sorts. You probably will never see me message bc I’m always late to the tv game as we like to binge a show (I forget and have to rewatch before a 2nd season). I was praying it was on another network (we watched it on AMC+) and I’m sorry Mr. Smiley gave you such a hard time. Just Know there’s a special place in the 6th circle of hell for him for ruining who knows how many shows we would have loved. All I can say is trust yourself! You are an incredible writer and we completely adored your version of Dracula.
-Lovers of the macabre,
Brie & Chris McD.
Thank you!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the series, Brie and Chris. And that you found your way to this Substack. I hope it illuminated for you some of the reasons why the series didn't move forward. There's a lot more on here about the "DRACULA" experience, if you go digging. This is a good summary of all the articles: https://colehaddon.substack.com/p/a-monthlong-celebration-of-the-complete?utm_source=publication-search
Sighing and groaning and shaking my head and ruefully laughing the whole time. Yup, I'm familiar with all this. As I say about my screenwriter-for-hire career, "I've earned myself a very modest pension by getting my heart broken approximately 42 times."
It's a crazy business in every possible way. I find it creatively debilitating and yet I love the medium so much I cannot stop returning to it. By the way, I have to read the essay you shared on my John Wayne post. I haven't forgotten about it!
Would def-ly be interested in reading more after catching the 4-part version of this article on Medium. I love the work of Mr. Knauf myself but I can understand there being disagreements on such a project.
Cole.
Just found this post!
I feel like writing about 1000 words in my comment but let me start somewhat briefly. My wife and I loved “Dracula” for sure. We kept looking for what happened to it and read all kinds of rumors. I eventually gave up, but days ago I searched again and it took me to your post.
On one hand, I want to unabashedly compliment the show, but now knowing what you wrote, I feel that compliment would give you scattershot feelings since you had all of these cooks in the kitchen trying to take credit. Some even trying to burn the soup, some stealing the recipe, some slipping vodka into it, but some genuinely trying to make it great in honor of your vision and talents. Hope that last one gives you some optimism.
The problem with this process (as I learned from you) is these mixed responses are all literally happening at the same time - on whims. Not a lot of runway to enjoy the ride before another chef steps in to add their own spices. And it may be arsenic.
We were huge Tudors fans so we knew a lot about JRM and his genius. So that certainly brought us in. He seemed like a great fit.
I have had my toe in some of the world you describe and can see how it can go sideways very quickly.
For now, I write on Substack to enjoy baseball with fans. I have been pitched on some very cool baseball story ideas from some fascinating people so that has been fun, but my eyes are much more open now. :)
Wishing you well.
Doug
My suffering is others' entertainment, as I like to say. Thanks for reading my horror story, Sally!