El infierno del desarrollo

Las compañías de la industria cinematográfica compran los derechos cinematográficos de muchas novelas, videojuegos y cómics populares, pero a menudo tardan años en llevar esas obras a la pantalla, tras haber realizado cambios considerables en sus tramas, personajes y tono general. Cuando este proceso de preproducción se prolonga demasiado, un proyecto suele abandonarse o cancelarse por completo. Hollywood inicia diez veces más proyectos de los que estrena. ^{[ 4 ]} Menos del dos por ciento de todos los libros cuyos derechos se adquieren llegan a la gran pantalla. ^{[ 5 ]}

As David Hughes, author of the book Tales from Development Hell (2003), 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.^[6] 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.^[7][8] 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;^[9] when there are labor strikes involving the writers, directors, crew, or cast;^[9] when there are disputes about intellectual property rights or contract terms;^[9] 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.^[10]

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.^[11]

If a film is in development but never receives the necessary production funds, another studio may execute a 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, thereby reducing taxable income.^[12]

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, and if he or she doesn't deliver, the project will be quickly abandoned."^[13]

El desarrollo de videojuegos puede estancarse durante años, a veces más de una década, a menudo debido a que un proyecto se traslada a diferentes estudios de producción, se crean y abandonan múltiples iteraciones del juego, o a dificultades con el desarrollo del software del juego en sí, como la pérdida de financiación, un alcance demasiado ambicioso y una mala gestión del tiempo de desarrollo. ^{[ 14 ]} En la industria informática, vaporware es el término para un producto, normalmente hardware o software informático, que se anuncia al público en general pero que se retrasa o nunca llega a fabricarse ni se cancela oficialmente.