New ‘Scream’ Bosses Take It To A ‘Whole New Level’ [Video]


Warning: This article contains spoilers for Scream.

Scream kicks off its second season with a with a change of leadership, as original showrunners Jill Blotevogel and Jaime Paglia depart from the series to pursue other projects, and some Scream critics are getting their wish for a new direction for the MTV series. Enter Michael Gans and Richard Register. The new team is invigorated and excited about taking the helm and giving Scream a small facelift, which starts with a cold open. MTV has released the first seven minutes of Scream, as they did with the first season, but the first look of show’s sophmore year proves Gans and Register are taking the series to “a whole new level.”

The Scream Debut Pays Tribute To Wes Craven’s Film Franchise

Only loyal fans of the Scream films will recall the opening sequence of Scream 2, which begins in a movie theater showing Stab, the fictitious film which is based on the events of the original Scream. The second season opener for MTV’s television adaptation opens in much the same way, but while it seems the television series is merely mimicking Scream 2, events soon take a very unexpected turn. That’s only the first seven minutes, and the new Scream showrunners promise to keep that same taut, suspenseful pace throughout the entire season.

“We love that opening. It was such a cool idea. We’re big fanboys of the entire franchise, and really, truly, always have been,” says Michael Gans. “That opening to us is a huge love letter to the entire idea of Scream.”

Richard Register adds that taking over Scream was a daunting task from the very beginning, especially after the previous work Jill and Jaimie had done in setting up the series. Although he and Gans had been involved with another series, the duo quickly jumped at the prospect of taking up the lead on Scream and submitted a first screenplay to the producers within record time.

“As for our storytelling, they seemed to really like where we were going. They liked the way we killed people, and they wanted that to go to a next level,” the new Scream showrunner says. “And I think we brought it there. The crazy twists we did, we didn’t get as much notes as when we did with the characters.”

Scream‘s First Seven Minutes Prove Anyone Is Fair Game

The Scream showrunners admit they chose their first victim very carefully, suggesting that they wanted to kill off a character who was both familiar and well liked by fans of the series. Gans adds that he wanted viewers to care about the victim so that the first seven minutes of Scream‘s season 2 would stir deeply emotional responses with the audience. Mr. Register adds to that the idea that a long-running series should reset with each season, and events should deeply impact the story of the season.

“People are dying, and you can’t just keep killing random people. You have to care about the victims for it to matter. So anyone can die on this show. Anyone can be the killer,” says Scream showrunner Gans. “Anyone can be psychotic enough to have a break. So we had to introduce a whole new cast of characters, and they had to be written not to just immediately die but to live and compete with the original characters.”

Speaking of killers, it seems this year’s Scream killer is much more of an exhibitionist, wielding a bigger weapon, something that speaks to the intense anger felt by the new killer. The Scream showrunners say that this new killer has really gone off the deep end in a big way, and he (or she) won’t be silenced or ignored. The new Scream killer wants to be seen, wants their crimes to make news, and wants to be discovered and seen.

Still, Scream fans shouldn’t get too attached to the same murder weapon. It seems the killer will be using whatever is handy.

“We wanted to surprise you. I think it’s very important to consistently surprise people in this form, especially when you’re talking about a series that goes on for years and years,” says Gans. “We’re looking to surprise people. That’s part of that.”

Scream fans have already been given an important clue to the identity of this season’s killer, according to the new series leads. The clue comes from Emma (Willa Fitzgerald), as she recounts dreaming about the barn seen in the first episode. The new Scream heads say that the barn will play a significant part in season 2.

“That barn has great importance. In fact, we’re writing about that barn right now. We’re writing something at the very end of the season that’s about that barn. There’s a huge thing that has great significance to the entire series.”

The next episode of Scream airs on Monday, June 6 on MTV.

[Image by MTV]

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