John August

Projects

Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie, Projects

Although IMDb says otherwise, I’m not writing Tim Burton’s recently announced Frankenweenie feature.

Here’s the long-ish version: I had a meeting with Disney Animation about a year ago, in which they pitched the idea of doing a feature version of Tim’s [Frankenweenie short film](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenweenie). They even had production art for it. Then, separately, I had a conversation with Tim about doing another stop-motion animation project like Corpse Bride.

But they’re not the same thing. And as far as I know, I won’t be working on either one. (That said, I didn’t think I was working on Corpse Bride until I was halfway on a plane to London, so never say never.)

To further confuse matters, there’s a different and as-yet-unannounced Tim Burton project (live action) which I almost certainly will be writing post-strike. And yes, I’d love to tell you what it is. But I can’t.

The Nines, U.K.

Projects, The Nines

I spent the morning doing phone interviews for The Nines, which gets its theatrical release in the U.K. this Friday. We’re playing at three locations in London…

* [West India Quay Cineworld](http://www.londonnet.co.uk/cinema/westindiaquaycineworld.html)
* [Cineworld Chelsea](http://www.londonnet.co.uk/cinema/cineworldchelsea.html)
* [Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue at The Trocadero](http://www.londonnet.co.uk/cinema/cineworldshaftesburyavenueatthetrocadero.html)

…plus other screens throughout the country. It’s a bit frustrating that in this age of Google, it’s so difficult to come up with a master list. (Part of this is my difficulty with U.K. postcodes, which are more specific than their U.S. equivalents.) So far, I’ve been able to find listings (but not showtimes) for Glasgow and Edinburgh, but if readers discover other locations, by all means share.

The British site for the movie, lookforthenines.co.uk, is better than the American one. (**Update March 2011:** The UK site is no longer active.) We’ll be re-doing ours in the next few weeks in anticipation of the DVD release (January 29th).

Heroes: Origins: Gone

Follow Up, Projects, Television

I can confirm that the plug got pulled on the six Heroes: Origins episodes, one of which I was slated to write and direct. The possiblity of a WGA strike ((I’m bucking convention by not saying “looming” in reference to the strike.)) made NBC hesitant to prep a series they might never be able to shoot.

I had literally just hit “Print” on my revised outline when I got the call from Tim Kring. So, yeah. I’m bummed. But I get it: It was a lot of money to spend in a very uncertain time. And if the labor situation resolves in an orderly fashion, the series could find itself out of the deep freeze for next season. ((One favorite topic of conversation is what will happen to this TV season if there is a prolonged break. It’s not unlikely we’ll get a second, shorter season to finish up the year.))

In case we never get to shoot it, my episode is/was called “Rehab.” Not everyone is good with their powers. Not everyone is good, period.

The Nines, scripted

Projects, Resources, The Nines

I promised that as soon as The Nines had reached its widest U.S. opening, I’d be putting the script up in the [Downloads section](http://johnaugust.com/downloads). That time has come.

You can find a .pdf of the screenplay [here](http://johnaugust.com/downloads#nines).