The newest episode of Dracula’s Kung-Fu Theatre dropped last weekend. It features the movie “Heroes of Shaolin.” I developed the idea for the show, but left after about a year. "Heroes of Shaolin” was going to be my season finale. The movie is about a boy whose father is murdered. The killer takes in the boy and trains him to possibly one day get his revenge.
So I had been seeding this disgruntled viewer named Abby in these "Letters to Dracula" segments. It would turn out she's Abby van Helsing. She would come to kill Dracula, only to be turned into a vampire. Dracula takes her under his wing and trains her how to be a vampire. The episode would end with her poised to be his new sidekick. But instead she stakes him and takes over the show. Cliffhanger! The "Magnificent Fist" episode was about Dracula eating a ginseng root, growing a gigantic fist, and fighting crime. In "The Guy with the Secret Kung Fu," Dracula is arrested for fishing without a license then is bailed out by Death in exchange for being a sidekick on the show. I'm sad it didn't work out, but I hope it's going okay with the new guys. It was an incredibly toxic work environment and my boss/producer kept pitching racist ideas. Things like pulling my eyelids down and speaking in a bad Chinese accent. Multiple times he told me the host character needed to be "more ret***ed." He lied to my face on multiple occasions (sometimes about the show, sometimes about other work-related things). It was not pleasant.
The company was going to be moving locations. He said he had a new place lined up. I asked if the new place would have space for the Dracula set. He said "Yes. Definitely." Later at a meeting, he said he didn't have a place lined up, he was looking at multiple places.
I watched the intro to a new show the company was working on. I asked who did the music. My boss said he made it. I complimented him on it, because I legitimately liked it. Months later, he brings his son by and introduces him as the guy who made that theme song.
He was constantly contradicting himself. All of his notes were very vague. "It needs to be outside of the box. More ret***ed. Less is more." When asked for specifics, he couldn't provide any. When I pushed him to cite a specific example of where "Less is more" could be applied, he cited a scene where Dracula says his name and lightning strikes. Then he does it three more times. Then he said "That really sells the joke." Also, it was a joke he had pitched. Also, that’s not “Less is more.” That’s “More is more!”
It was a constant battle. I filmed a pilot. He liked it, but didn't like the costume or set. So we changed them and filmed a test scene. He gave it the thumbs up. I filmed the pilot, then suddenly he didn't like the script, though nothing had changed.
I worked on the show for a year. I had written 16 scripts. He wanted to go in a completely different direction with it. I was open to redoing it, but not scrapping the entire concept. I suggested doing a test screening. He said he knew better than me and kicked me off of it.
This has been eating away at me for over two years. There's way more to it than just this, but I needed to purge some of it or I was going to lose my mind. I think the breaking point was how there has been zero recognition of my contribution to the concept.
After I had left, the new guys told me that I would be getting a co-creator credit. I always assumed that wasn't going to happen. But I hoped I would at least get a mention in the special thanks. But I got nothing.
I had lunch with the new team the day the show premiered (my wife was leaving the company) and I wished them all good luck. They were all very nice and polite. But none of them mentioned that they were told not to give me a credit by their boss. (Not until the next day, anyway.)
It just hurts to put an entire year's worth of energy into something and to have that taken away from you and have no one acknowledge you. It's just shitty. Again, I have no ill will against the new guys. They helped me on the pilot I made and I appreciated it. I hope the show does well! It just feels super weird to be completely unacknowledged.
