It's the kind of behind-the-scenes Hollywood drama that any entertainment blogger would die to cover, except in this case it's happening on a show about a blogger, and the person on whom the show is based either can't or won't touch the story. I'm talking about the bizarre goings-on at HBO's Tilda, a new show starring Diane Keaton as a thinly veiled version of Deadline Hollywood's Nikki Finke, a ruthless and reclusive Hollywood blogger with the power to make and break careers. With Bill Condon on board as a director of the pilot and executive producer it was looking like one of the highest profile shows to look forward to, until news came this week that the wheels may be falling off entirely.
Showrunner Cynthia Mort was fired on Monday not only because she fought publicly with Keaton and Condon, but sent out an e-mail to the entire production team and the studio airing out her grievances. "It was an ugly, nasty email," a source told Entertainment Weekly, who broke the story. "That was the final straw for HBO." The email apparently accused Condon and Keaton of not knowing what they were doing and predicted that the show would fail, so yeah, you can see why they were anxious to get rid of her.
Condon is apparently regrouping his reaming team and looking for a new showrunner, acknowledging that the show wasn't exactly working as it was and continuing to hope that HBO will order the show for a series. It's hard to imagine a show with such built-in Hollywood appeal and a star like Keaton not going anyway, but behind-the-scenes scuffles have tanked shows in the past. Best of luck to Condon as he tries to pull this thing together-- I'll at least be rooting to see an excellent final product.
