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{{Short description|Term for media projects stuck in development}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}

'''Development hell''', also known as '''development purgatory''' or '''development limbo''', is [[Media industry|media]]- and [[Software industry|software]]- industry [[jargon]] for a project, concept, or idea that remains in a stage of early development for a long time because of legal, technical, or artistic challenges.<ref name="Doyle_Page_55">{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Barbara Freedman |title=Make Your Movie: What You Need to Know About the Business and Politics of Filmmaking |date=2012 |publisher=Focal Press |___location=Waltham, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-240-82155-9 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPzhXug9X4oC&pg=PA55 |access-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-date=March 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327101555/https://books.google.com/books?id=cPzhXug9X4oC&pg=PA55 |url-status=live }}</ref> A work may move between many sets of artistic leadership, crews, scripts, [[game engine]]s, or studios. (The related terms '''production hell''' and '''production limbo''' refer to situations in which a film has begun production but has remained unfinished for a long time without progressing to [[post-production]].)

Some projects enter development hell because they were initially designed with ambitious goals, the difficulty of meeting those goals was underestimated, and attempts to meet those goals have repeatedly failed.

But theThe term is also applied more generally to describe any project that has unexpectedly stalled in the planning or design phase, has failed to meet its originally expected date of completion, and is languishing in those phases for what is seen as an unreasonably long time.{{fact|date=March 2025}}

Many projects that enter development hell are gradually abandoned by the involved parties and are never produced.{{fact|date=March 2025}}

== Overview ==

=== Film ===

Film industry companies often buy the [[film rights]] to many popular novels, video games, and comic books, but it mayoften take years for such properties to bebring successfullythose broughtproperties to the screen, andhaving oftenfirst withmade considerable changes to thetheir plotplots, characters, and general tone. ThisWhen this pre-production process cantakes last for months or years. More often thantoo notlong, a project trappedwill in this state for a prolonged period of time willoften be abandoned by all interested parties or cancelled outright. As [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] starts ten times as many projects as are released, many scripts will end up in this limboit statereleases.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Spillman|first=Susan|title=Cover Story: Writers Paid for Movies Never Made|magazine=USA Today|___location=McLean, Virginia|language=en|publication-date=January 16, 1991|page=D1}}</ref> Less than two percent of all books whichthat are [[Option (filmmaking)|optioned]] actually make it to the big screen.<ref name="Kean">{{cite news |last1=Kean |first1=Danuta |title=No room at the Oscars: The cinemas are full of turkeys yet that brilliant novel you read three years ago has never been made into a film. |work=The Independent on Sunday |page=1 |date=April 15, 2007}} Available via [[|id={{ProQuest]].|</ref>!-- Davidinsert Hughes,ProQuest thedata authorhere of a book titled ''Tales From Development Hell'', states that once producers, directors, and actors are attached to the project, they may request script rewrites, which delays production.<ref-->{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=David |title=Tales From Development Hell (New Updated Edition): The Greatest Movies Never Made? |publisher=Titan Books |date=2012}}}}</ref>

As David Hughes, author of the book ''Tales From Development hellHell'', happenshas mostnoted, oftenone withreason projectsproduction is delayed is that, haveafter multipleproducers, interpretationsdirectors, and reflectactors severalhave pointsbeen attached to a project, they may request script rewrites.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=David |title=Tales From Development Hell (New Updated Edition): The Greatest Movies Never Made? |publisher=Titan Books |date=2012}}</ref> Another cause of viewdelay is that, after people have been attached to a project, they find they have conflicting interpretations of it or visions for it.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Mitchell|first=Kerrie|title=Dept. of Development Hell|magazine=Premiere|___location=New York|language=en|date=February 2005|volume=18|issue=5|page=40}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Warren|first=Patricia Nell|title=Books Into Movies: Part 2 (Best Selling Novel [[The Front Runner (novel)|The Front Runner]] has Spent Over 25 Years in Development Hell)|magazine=Lambda Book Report|___location=Washington|language=en|date=April 2008|volume=8|issue=9|page=9}}</ref> DevelopmentFor delaysexample, can also arise when athe director and the filmstudio studioexecutives may have a different visionopinions about a film's casting, plot, or budget;. ifDevelopment adelays starcan withdrawsalso fromresult the project; due to the "[d]eath ofwhen a castlead memberactor or a significantkey member of the production team" withdraws from the project, takes ill, or dies;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfi.edu/how-long-does-it-take-to-make-a-movie/ |title=How Long Does It Take To Make A Movie? Everything You Need To Know |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= February 16, 2022|website=www.nfi.edu |publisher=National Film Institute|access-date=29 March 2023|quote=}}</ref> when there are labor strikes byinvolving the writers, directors, crew, or cast;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfi.edu/how-long-does-it-take-to-make-a-movie/ |title=How Long Does It Take To Make A Movie? Everything You Need To Know |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= February 16, 2022|website=www.nfi.edu |publisher=National Film Institute|access-date=29 March 2023|quote=}}</ref> "[p]roblemswhen withthere rightsare agreementsdisputes andabout intellectual property rights or contract disputes"terms;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfi.edu/how-long-does-it-take-to-make-a-movie/ |title=How Long Does It Take To Make A Movie? Everything You Need To Know |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= February 16, 2022|website=www.nfi.edu |publisher=National Film Institute|access-date=29 March 2023|quote=}}</ref> or ifwhen there is turnover at the studio's executive level, and the new leaders have a different vision.; Filmor projectswhen, candue alsoto bechanges delayedin ifthe wider economic, cultural, or political climate, the film's topic becomescomes to be perceivedseen as no longer marketable.<ref name="script">{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/2001/09/24/hollywood-reacts-crisis/|title=Hollywood reacts to the crisis|first1=Jeff|last1=Jensen|first2=Benjamin|last2=Svetkey|date=September 24, 2001|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|access-date=March 13, 2023|archive-date=March 14, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314062539/https://ew.com/article/2001/09/24/hollywood-reacts-crisis/|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{anchor|Production hell}}Production hell refers to whena situation in which a film has entered production but remainshas remained in that statephase for a long time without progressing to post-production.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 9, 2020 |title='The New Mutants' Director Josh Boone Says The Film Never Had Reshoots |url=https://atomtickets.com/movie-news/new-mutants-never-had-reshoots/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714113858/https://atomtickets.com/movie-news/new-mutants-never-had-reshoots/ |archive-date=July 14, 2021 |access-date=July 14, 2021 |website=Atom Insider}}</ref>

=== Television ===

[[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 episode |pilot]], and if he or she doesn't deliver, the project will be quickly abandoned."<ref>{{cite web |url= https://pipelineartists.com/principles-of-hollywood-development/|title= Principles of Hollywood Development|last=Aguado |first=Ken |date=21 June 2021 |website=pipelineartists.com |publisher= Pipeline Artists|access-date=29 March 2023 |quote=}}</ref>

=== Video games ===

[[Video game development]] can be stalled for years, occasionally over a decade, often due to a project being moved to different production studios, multiple iterations of the game being created and abandoned, or difficulties with the development of the game software itself, such as loss of funding, overambitious scope, and poor development time management.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=LeBlanc |first=Wesley |title=Video Games Stuck In Development Hell: Part 2 |url=https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/11/02/video-games-stuck-in-development-hell-part-2 |url-status=deadlive |magazine=Game Informer |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106062902/https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/11/02/video-games-stuck-in-development-hell-part-2 |archive-date=November 6, 2021 |access-date=November 7, 2021}}</ref> In the computer industry, [[vaporware]] is the term for a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is late or never actually manufactured nor officially cancelled.

=== Podcasts ===

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== Causes ==

The [[concept artist]] and illustrator Sylvain Despretz has suggested that, "Development hell doesn't happen with no-name directors. It happens only with famous directors that a studio doesn't dare break up with. And that's how you end up for two years just, you know, [[Lipstick on a pig|polishing a turd]]. Until, finally, somebody walks away, at great cost."<ref>{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?]] |last=Schnepp, Jon (director) |type=Documentary |year=2015 |time=1:27:52}}</ref>

With video games, slow progress and a lack of funds may lead developers to focus their resources elsewhere. Occasionally, completed portions of a game fail to meet expectations, with developers subsequently choosing to abandon the project rather than start from scratch. The commercial failure of a released game may also result in any prospective sequels being delayed or cancelled.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/05/10/the-13-biggest-video-games-that-never-came-out |title=The 13 Biggest Video Games That Never Came Out |last=Johnson |first=Leif |website=IGN |date=May 2016-05-10, 2016|access-date=May 2022-05-31, 2022|archive-date=April 2021-04-27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427044729/https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/05/10/the-13-biggest-video-games-that-never-came-out |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Turnaround deals ==