Universal Said to put the Brakes on Development for 2009

At Universal, if your project isn't being fast-tracked or greenlit, you won't be able to spend money to move it forward until 2010. Variety reports that Universal Pictures put the word out this week that it will not spend money for the rest of the year to advance development projects.

The word began filtering down to lot producers and the dealmaking community this week that development has essentially been frozen at the studio.

This is not an unprecedented move. Studios often run through their fiscal-year budgets and sometimes make deals with writers and their agents that keep projects percolating but delay payments until the beginning of the next fiscal year, when budgets are replenished, Variety notes.

However, says the trade, it is unusual for a major studio like Universal to implement such a move in mid-September.

A studio insider denied that development has been frozen completely saying instead that Universal has solidified its 2010 slate and has made commitments to the projects it feels will fill its 2011 slate.

Universal is not the only studio putting the brakes on development. Despite making a recent multimillion-dollar deal to capture Beatles song rights for a "Yellow Submarine" remake involving Robert Zemeckis, Disney has reportedly slowed its development pace as well.

Further, says Variety, word is that Warner Bros. is paying scale to writers who don't have established quotes, and most studios are employing one-step writer deals.

"Civility has gone out the window," said one rep.