Stephen Moffat Leaves Tintin

Writer Dumps Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson For Dr. Who Position

Jul 21, 2008

Stephen Moffat dropped a $2 million paycheque as Tintin's scriptwriter to go be the showrunner (executive producer) for Dr. Who.

What kind of person walks away from working with famed directors Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson? A guy who really loves Dr. Who, apparently.

Scriptwriter Steven Moffat has bailed from Spielberg and Peter Jackson's upcoming Tintin trilogy, and a $2 million paycheque, in order to become the showrunner (the British equivalent of the executive producer) for the longrunning BBC-One science fiction serial. Moffat will officially take the Dr. Who gig when the current showrunner Russell T. Davies steps down next year.

"I know a lot of people won't understand it but I've been dreaming of writing for Dr. Who since I was seven," Moffat told WENN (via IMDb) about the sudden switch. "There are no bad feelings between Spielberg and me, but Dr. Who has to come before Hollywood. I am working on scripts to be filmed next year. Russell T. Davies is doing four specials next, then my shows will begin. I talked to Steven and he completely understood. Steven is a fan and he understood my passion for the series completely."

Ironically, Spielberg and Jackson had originally approached Moffat to write the Tintin scripts after they viewed his award-winning work for Dr. Who.

Moffat's script for the dramatic two-part cliffhanger "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, and assisted in the revival of the cult series, which had been a BBC staple since 1963.

Moffat then wrote "The Girl in the Fireplace," which won the 2007 Hugo in the same category, and received a Nebula nomination as well. He then wrote the episode "Blink" for the 2007 season, which made him the only other writer (other than Davies) to contribute Dr. Who scripts for the past 4 seasons.

It was for this reason that many people had marked Moffat to replace Davies as showrunner once Davies' tenure on Dr. Who ended. At the time, Moffat had refused to discuss the rumours that he would take over the creative reins for the long-running series, but obviously he wanted the gig if he was willing to turn down $2 million from Spielberg. There's no word yet on a possible replacement for Moffat.

Moffat would have written the scripts for all 3 movies, the first two to be directed by Spielberg and Jackson respectively. The two directors, who are also producing the CGI films for DreamWorks Animation, claimed to be hunting for a director for the 3rd movie, but it's become increasingly likely that the two will simply co-direct the movie themselves.

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