What We Do in the Shadows: The Series

JANUARY 22, 2018 by Lesley Goldberg
'What We Do in the Shadows' Pilot From Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi Set at FX

The TV take is based on the 2014 mockumentary of the same name and will feature a new cast.
Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi are bringing What We Do in the Shadows to the small screen.

The duo, who originally wrote, directed and starred in the 2014 New Zealand vampire mockumentary, have landed a pilot-production order at FX for a reboot of the film.

Based on the feature of the same name, the half-hour comedy will be written by Clement and directed by Waititi. The latter is fresh off the success of helming Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok.

Set to star in the new What We Do in the Shadows are Kayvan Novak (Danger Mouse, Thunderbirds Are Go), Matt Berry (Toast of London), Natasia Demetriou (Year Friends) and Harvey Guillen (The Thundermans, The Internship). It's unclear if Clement and Waititi will also have any onscreen role.

Clement and Waititi will executive produce alongside franchise newcomers Scott Rudin (The Night Of, The Newsroom), Paul Simms (Flight of the Conchords, Atlanta) and Scott Rudin Productions' Garrett Basch and Eli Bush. The comedy will be produced in-house at FX Productions.

Produced on a budget of $1.6 million, the film grossed $6 million globally and has since become a cult favorite. The feature revolved around four vampire roommates who shared a home in Te Aro as they kill at night but are forced to live together during the day. Waititi, Clement, Jonathan Brugh and Ben Fransham starred as the vampire roommates.

The Shadows revival comes at a busy time for Clement, who revived Flight of the Conchords for an hourlong special to air in May on HBO. He is repped by UTA and Morris Yorn. Waititi, who has Bubbles in the works, is with CAA and Manage-ment.

MAY 03, 2018 by Lesley Goldberg
'What We Do in the Shadows' TV Series From Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi a Go at FX

The cable network has handed out a 10-episode order for the half-hour comedy based on the feature film of the same name. FX is officially heading into the shadows.

Three months after handing out a pilot order for a reboot of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's What We Do in the Shadows, the cable network has handed out a 10-episode series order for the comedy.

Set to bow in spring 2019, What We Do in the Shadows follows three vampires who have been roommates for hundreds and hundreds of years. Based on the feature of the same name, the half-hour show is written by Clement and directed by Waititi. The latter is fresh off the success of helming Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok. Clement, Waititi and Paul Simms (Flight of the Conchords, Atlanta) exec produce alongside Scott Rudin and his Scott Rudin Productions' Eli Bush and Garrett Basch.

What We Do in the Shadows stars Kayvan Novak (Danger Mouse, Thunderbirds Are Go), Matt Berry (Toast of London), Natasia Demetriou (Year Friends) and Harvey Guillen (The Thundermans, The Internship). It's unclear if Clement and Waititi, who starred in the feature, will have onscreen roles.

"
What We Do in the Shadows only gets better with age thanks to this brilliant adaptation for television by co-creators Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi,” said Nick Grad, president of originals at FX. "Their feature version was a hilarious, fresh take on the mundanity of everyday life that even immortals must face. We are thankful to them, Paul Simms and Scott Rudin, and this amazing cast for taking us deeper into the shadows with this series."

Produced on a budget of $1.6 million, the film grossed $6 million globally and has since become a cult favorite. The feature revolves around four vampire roommates who share a home in Te Aro as they kill at night but are forced to live together during the day. Waititi, Clement, Jonathan Brugh and Ben Fransham starred as the vampire roommates.

The Shadows series comes at a busy time for Clement, who revived Flight of the Conchords for an hourlong special to air in May on HBO. He is repped by UTA and Morris Yorn. Waititi, who has Bubbles in the works, is with CAA and Manage-ment.

What We Do in the Shadows joins an FX/FXX comedy lineup that includes Atlanta, Baskets, Better Things, You're the Worst, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Archer, and arrives after the cabler abandoned plans for an animated Deadpool series from Marvel Television. On the pilot side, FX has comedy Compliance — starring Courtney B. Vance and Mary-Louise Parker — in the works.

FX's What We Do In The Shadows TV Show To Premiere Spring 2019


BY SANDY SCHAEFER – ON AUG 03, 2018 IN TV NEWS

FX has confirmed that its U.S. TV show version of What We Do in the Shadows will premiere sometime in spring 2019. The series is based on Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's hit vampire mockumentary of the same name, but will feature an all-new setting and characters.

Released in its native New Zealand in 2014 (before it hit U.S. theaters the year after), What We Do in the Shadows revolves around a group of vampires whose struggles to adjust to the challenges of modern life are recorded by a documentary filmmaking crew. Although Waititi has since made the jump to the world of big-budget tentpole filmmaking with Thor: Ragnarok, he remains actively involved in the ongoing expansion of the What We Do in the Shadows brand. In addition to cowriting and producing FX's TV adaptation, Waititi co-created the spinoff series Wellington Paranormal (which debuted last month on Television New Zealand).

Speaking at the network's Television Critics Association press tour panel, FX head John Landgraf confirmed that the U.S. What We Do in the Shadows TV show will debut next spring. According to IndieWire's Ben Travers, Landgraf further confirmed that the comedy series takes place in New York (specifically "Staten Island and the other boroughs") and will eventually feature several lead characters, though "none of them are from the movie". Per Hanh Nguyen, Landgraf also described the series as being tonally similar to the film, but added that "
it has a different time and place".

What We Do in the Shadows season 1 will run for ten episodes, with Clement and Waititi producing alongside their Flight of the Conchords collaborator Paul Simms. The latter has worked with FX before an a producer on Donald Glover's surreal comedy series Atlanta and has served in the past as a writer/producer on the HBO New York-based dramedy TV series Girls and Divorce. Meanwhile, in terms of casting, the What We Do in the Shadows series will feature actors like Doug Jones (The Shape of Water), Beanie Feldstein (Lady Bird), Kayvan Novak (Thunderbirds Are Go), and Matt Berry (Toast of London) in recurring roles.

All in all, What We Do in the Shadows should feel right at home in FX's television lineup. The network has long made its name as being the place to go for offbeat genre TV shows and a supernatural monster comedy series in the style of The Office should fit right in with not only Atlanta, but also Noah Hawley's trippy X-Men adaptation Legion and quirky crime movie-turned TV show Fargo, among other small screen offerings. With both Clement and Waititi involved creatively, the series may yet manage to please fans of the original movie and newcomers to the franchise alike.

6 AUG 2018
FX'S WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS SERIES WILL BE 'BIGGER' THAN THE MOVIE

Vampires don’t do dishes.

BY LAURA PRUDOM When Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement wrote, directed and starred in offbeat vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows in 2014, the New Zealanders were perhaps best known for Clement's quirky series Flight of the Conchords and Waititi's indie darling Boy. In the years since, Clement has become one of the industry's most interesting performers thanks to breakout roles in FX's Legion and Disney's Moana, while Waititi has established himself as one of Hollywood's most visionary directors thanks to his franchise-saving take on Thor: Ragnarok.

Now they're adapting What We Do in the Shadows into a TV series for FX, shifting the narrative from Wellington to New York to tell a new story about three lazy vampires who have been roommates for hundreds of years.

IGN spoke to FX president John Landgraf about the cable network's vision for the series, which Landgraf says will adhere to the somewhat episodic structure of the original film while still telling a serialized story over the course of the season.

"It’s pretty episodic, but it has a super-structure, which is that you have these three vampires that have been living in a ramshackle house in Staten Island for a long time. And they were told to come to the New World and conquer it. And they got off the boat and moved into a house, and sat on their asses for 70 years. And now they’re being told to move on,"
he explained. "One of them is kind of fascinated with the internet and television and technology, and the others are medieval people who think that’s sacrilege to their culture. And they’re also just idiots. They’re unbelievably incompetent, right? But what happens is, their world expands beyond their house. They end up in other boroughs of Manhattan. They end up in the middle of a city council zoning ordinance battle. So, it has episodic episodes within this larger serialized structure. And there are more characters who are joining their midst, too. So I’m pretty excited about it."

Landgraf confirmed that the series will involve more female characters than the original film (the series stars Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou and Harvey Guillen), but as for "when the swearwolves are gonna appear, I can’t say yet."

One fascinating aspect of the series, Landgraf pointed out, is "we have a much bigger budget for the TV series than Jemaine and Taika had for the movie, "which only cost $1.6 million. "The production design is bigger and better, and the special effects are bigger and better than the movie. So that’s a first in the world."

Landgraf also praised Waititi's aesthetic, comparing the series to working with Guillermo del Toro on FX's adaptation of The Strain. "Obviously, Taika’s stepped up to really big time filmmaking, and his taste in design and cinematography and production design is just really beautiful. It’s a very beautiful show to look at. And for me, personally - this is one of the reasons I loved working with Guillermo del Toro so much - I really love it when genre material is also just artful and beautiful."


FX's What We Do in the Shadows is set to premiere in 2019.

‘WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS’ SERIES STARRING MATT BERRY EXPECTED TO SHOOT THIS OCTOBER IN TORONTO
By Christopher Marc
August 3, 2018

It was recently announced that FX had taken the What We Do In The Shadows pilot to a full 10-episode series, which is based on the Taika Waititi vampire New Zealand-set mockumentary.

The spinoff series will focus on a trio of vampires in New York City, who have been roommates for hundreds of years. It will star Matt Berry, Kayvan Novak, Natasia Demetriou, and Harvey Guillen.

Omega Underground has learned that filming on the horror comedy series is now expected to begin this October in Toronto.

What We Do In The Shadows is said to be airing sometime next spring on FXX.

SOURCE: OMEGA UNDERGROUND

What We Do In The Shadows US is 'equally hilarious' to Kiwi version  
DANI MCDONALD
August 18 2018

SKY TV's head of entertainment says the US version of What We Do In The Shadows is "equally hilarious" to the Kiwi film it's based on.  

Karen Bieleski saw the first episode in Los Angeles earlier this year.

"I can safely say that fans of the movie will be as thrilled as we were,"
Bieleski said.

"The series has all the stylistic flourishes and droll wit of the movie, and the translation to an American location has worked incredibly well."


What We Do In The Shadows US is more similar to the film, following three vampire roommates born during different eras, who have to adapt to modern times as they attempt to survive the New World on Staten Island in New York.

Alongside Doug Jones (The Shape of Water), Kayvan Novak (Thunderbirds are Go), Beanie Feldstein (Lady Bird) and Matt Berry (Toast of London), other cast members include Harvey Guillen (Eye Candy) and Natasia Demetriou (The Fesitval).

US media are reporting that What We Do In The Shadows US will debut in the US during spiring, which is NZ's autumn months - March, April, May.

Bieleski says Kiwis will get the show "express from the US on SoHo early next year".

You’re one of the head writers and showrunners for the What We Do in the Shadows TV show. Will you character from the movie make a cameo?
I’m keeping that close to my chest — that’s code for highly likely. Yeah, we showed the pilot at Comic Con a few weeks ago. Someone asked, will your characters show up in the show, and I said It would have to be something very important to bring them away from New Zealand. Some people took that as no, even though I thought it was very obvious. As I say, highly likely.


What’s different about the show compared to the movie?
Yeah, they’re different characters and it’s a different environment. But there’s a lot of similarities as well. It’s the same humor and the same style. I think of it as one of those housewives shows: Housewives of…. So we have Vampires of Wellington and the new one is Vampires of Staten Island.*

Will we see any other types of monsters on the show?
In the first season there’s a couple of different types of vampires. I don’t want to give too much away about it.

Is is true you’re working on a What We Do in the Shadows sequel with Taika Waititi about the werewolves?
Working on it is an exaggeration. We had an idea for doing it. But I don’t know if we’re going to make that. We talked a bit about it, but I’ve been working on that show and another show. I haven’t chipped away at that one yet.

If the werewolves movie does happen, would you and all the other vampires be a part of it?
We haven’t thought it enough out to know yet, and I’ve kind of been playing with whether it will get made or not.

There’s another show in the Shadows universe, right? What can you tell me about Wellington Paranormal?
Yeah, there’s two police officers in What We Do in the Shadows who come to the vampires’ house and fail to see what’s happening because they’re hypnotized. And that was just really funny. So we thought they should get a TV show. We made a six part series, which is out on New Zealand. We’ve got another season, but I haven’t started work on that yet.

It’s really fun, I love making it. It’s a monster of the week. It’s like a stupid X-Files.

Dove wrote:I've seen headlines only crediting Taika for the series. Same with Wellington Paranormal. Sucks for Jemaine since he's been doing a lot of the heavy lifting with the spin-offs.

Clemaine explains why he and his former co-stars aren’t going to be in front of the screen this time. “For a couple of reasons. For one, Taika had got me to talk to [executive producer] Scott Rudin about making the show, and then just when we’d agreed to do it Taika said, ‘I’m doing Thor 3,’ so it seemed like he wouldn’t have been able to be in it. And it would have been weird to have the rest of us in it and not him. And as it happened that didn’t matter, because by the time it was finished he’d finished that movie.”
“But also just that it’s set in America and just felt like it should be different people, you know, different characters,” Clement added.
Waititi told reporters following the show’s panel later Monday that once FX agreed to do the series, “then about like a week later I got ‘Thor’ — so I was like, ‘OK, peace out Jemaine. You’re on your own.’” He added: “I went off and did the movie and so he had to really take over and do all the writing. I was very lucky that I got to come in and put my name on it, and then come in and direct a few episodes.”

Just before I got signed to direct “Thor,” Scott Rudin got in touch with me. He had seen the film and wanted to see if I wanted to do a TV show.
I got “Thor” and I said to Jemaine, “It’s all yours.” I abandoned him, so he pretty much did all the writing and created this show.

2. How involved were they in the making of Wellington Paranormal?
Taika was supposed to be a lot more involved but Thor came along. Jemaine was filming Legion in the US, but we’d send them both scripts and they’d send back notes. Once Jemaine was home he edited the scripts and directed four episodes. We’ve been commissioned to make a second series with thirteen episodes just as they’re busy making the US version of What We Do in the Shadows. We’re going to break filming into two blocks starting soon.

3. So who did write the scripts for the first series?
I put together a team of and we went away to write in a house I rented in the Wairarapa. I wrote a couple of episodes. Fresh Eggs creator Nick Ward wrote one. Jemaine got me to hire Melanie Bracewell after he noticed the great gags she writes on twitter. We also had Coco Solid who wrote a brilliant web series called Aroha Bridge – she watches a lot of reality TV, which is really useful for making a parody of reality shows like Police 10/7 – and Sam Smith from Jono and Ben.

emira wrote:

I agree and to justify Taika, it's not what he says to the journalists. It's their assumption. At the TCA Press Tour in Pasadena,

Dove wrote:

emira wrote:I agree and to justify Taika, it's not what he says to the journalists. It's their assumption. At the TCA Press Tour in Pasadena,

I think because Taika's so famous now he's the name reporters know and pay attention to. He was successful before, but Thor catapulted his fame to the next level.