Even as Ridley Scott is getting well into his seventies, he’s not showing any signs of slowing down.
Last year came his long awaited Prometheus, which polarized viewers, and is still causing debate among fans to this day. Then again, one of Scott’s all time classics, Blade Runner, similarly confused and polarized audiences as well before going on to become one of the greatest films in genre history.
Scott is currently in post-production on The Counselor, starring Brad Pitt, which is due in November, and he’s also been plotting a Blade Runner sequel. Giant Freakin Robot also reports he’ll be making a series of short films with Machinima, which could be a very interesting collaboration.
Machinima is the company which gave us the webisodes for Halo 4 Forward Unto Dawn, and Battlestar Galactia: Blood and Chrome. Machinima’s audience is in the crucial 18-34 male range, and with these shorts, they hope to have one or more that could also make successful features. As I often hear on the fringes of Hollywood, what may spark the next revolution in cinema may not be something feature length, but something smaller that people flock to on YouTube or elsewhere.
Scott won’t be directing, he’ll be the executive producer, although it would certainly be interesting to see what he could do in a shorter format. (It could take him back to his roots as a commercial director, which was his bread and butter before he directed his first feature, The Duellists, in his late thirties.)
However, the roster of directors under Ridley Scott and Associates who make commercials include Neill Blomkamp, Joe Carnahan, Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, and Kathryn Bigelow. And according to Collider, these shorts will be in the sci-fi genre.
As Allen DeBevoise, the Chairman, Co-founder and CEO at Machinima, said in a statement, “Partnering with Ridley Scott to work with his talented directors shows Machinima’s dedication to going above and beyond in delivering quality original content for our audience to embrace. By combining this unique incubation model together with our powerful partnership of established creative talent and scaled distribution to millions on Machinima, we believe new sci-fi franchises will be born.”
Scott himself added, “RSA has always been at the forefront of creating innovative work. With new media transforming the way audiences connect with films and filmmakers, Machinima is a great partner for us as we embark on this new model of delivering original content to fans. It’s a tremendous opportunity for pushing the creative boundaries for both our filmmakers and the audience.”
