History TroubledProduction / FictionalExamples

* ''WebVideo/ScottTheWoz'': Fittingly for an episode titled [[TroubledProduction/VideoGames 'Development Hell']], the opening skit shows Scott's own troubled development cycle in action when he gets commissioned to make a game for a company. Apparently, this happens every two weeks and he's not really sure what's going wrong [[spoiler:and jn reality they actually wanted him to make a Snickers bar instead]].

* A ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' OVA reveals that the iconic first opening was actually filmed by Tomoyo with Sakura (reluctantly) participating. Unfortunately, poor Sakura flubs up a few things and even panics when she's asked to sing the theme, but Tomoyo is able to pivot gracefully.
* In a ''Manga/CaseClosed'' {{filler}} case, the cast befriends the young leader of a drama troupe that seems to have ''serious'' problems. The script writer is a bitter JerkAss, said troupe leader is a sweetie but he's overwhelmed due to his lack of experience, [[spoiler: the treasurer had embezzled quite a sum of money]], two troupe members die... Oh dear.
* Parodied in ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' when the cast tries to make a movie, and everyone's favorite RealityWarper starts causing...problems. Mikuru nearly kills Kyon with her spontaneously developed EyeBeams, a cat gains advanced intellect and [[TalkingAnimal the ability to speak]], extinct birds appear out of nowhere, and so on. Also, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Haruhi is even more of a jerk than usual]].
* Masago's movie in ''Anime/JewelpetSunshine''. Since he favors his lead actress Garnet excessively, it leads to complaints on part of the rest of the cast, which are rebuffed by Masago in true PrimaDonnaDirector style. This causes both cast and crew to walk off until he realizes that making a movie is worthless if no one's having fun, apologizes to everyone and starts accepting suggestions. After this, another problem arises; lead actor Jasper can't get a pivotal scene right and collapses from exhaustion, so Masago takes it upon himself to replace him.
* Some case arcs in ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles'' have this trope as part of their premises, usually involving [[IdolSinger Reika]].

* ([[BlackComedy Darkly]]) parodied in Episode 10 of ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent''. It's hard to produce an anime series when your production staff just can't seem to get along. It's even harder when [[CharactersDroppingLikeFlies the crew starts getting killed off one by one.]]
* In the ''Anime/SailorMoon R'' episode "Steal a Kiss from Mamoru: An's Project Snow White", the Sailors learn that Mamoru is having troubles with a play -- the class he was in all walked off the project over roles. Usagi, who is trying to break through what she thinks is LaserGuidedAmnesia since his death and resurrection, decides they should help him out. The girls end up fighting over who should be the lead of the play "Snow White" -- Rei, because she chose the play; Usagi, because she's cute and adorable; Makoto, because of her [[BuxomBeautyStandard "talent"]]; Minako, because she has grace and elegance; and Ami, because [[StatingTheSimpleSolution being Snow White would be easy for for such a studious girl with so few lines]]. Not even Naru and Umino can stop them! However, An shows up with the idea for them to draw straws -- red gets the Evil Queen, white gets Snow White and blue gets the "fairies". However, An cheats, tearing off her straw piece so that she got white instead of blue, leaving Usagi as the queen and the rest as "fairies". When An offers Ali the role of the last "fairy", he rejects it and, out of jealousy as he wanted to be the prince to An's Snow White, summons a [[MonsterOfTheWeek Cardian]] to disrupt it. When it attacks, the simple Snow White play turns into a fight between the Cardian and the Sailor Guardians, which the audience don't realize is not part of the play.
* An episode of ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' had Urara's first show, an outdoor stage show, go completely off the rails. The actress playing the main character falls ill during rehearsals, leading Nozomi, who was kicked out of the Drama Club after just two days, to decide to take over. Then, there was trying to get Nozomi to get through the show without klutzing out. Then, during the show, Girinma shows up and summons the MonsterOfTheWeek, forcing the girls to figure out a way to transform and fight the thing. ''And it is a hit!'' However, when Urara's manager asks her if she could pull that off again, she's left speechless and the other four vocalize what she wants to say: "No way!"

* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', Sally Jupiter, the original Silk Spectre, became a superhero in part to aid the possibility of a film career for her. The film seems to have hit snags rather quickly after Sally Jupiter's career did. It spent a decade in production, went through four titles, changed genre multiple times from a documentary to a children's matinee to a borderline softcore-bondage skin flick, and swapped out the lead actress [[TheOtherMarty while still retaining a lot of old footage]]. By the time ''Silk Swingers of Suburbia'' came out as a B-movie, Sally had been retired for a year, and it received a thorough critical thrashing.

* After Rebecca from ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse'' becomes a pop star, she decides to hold a Halloween concert at her high school with her former band 4Evah as an opening act. While preparing for the concert, 4Evah's April Patterson recruits her uncle Phil after he tells her about the trumpet and how it works. 4Evah puts on a surprisingly good show as a result, then everything goes wrong for Rebecca. The sound system cuts out, one of her band members shows up drunk, and another is stoned. Rebecca ends up running offstage crying and April goes to comfort her.
* The page image is from ''Comicstrip/HeartOfTheCity'', where Dean tries to do a Han Solo origin story using puppets. The cast doesn't help at times (along with Heart bungling her lines, other two question the script), the budget is finished with firecrackers for a climactic explosion that even set a puppet on fire, and Dean spends all-nighters editing, making his grades fail.

* ''VideoGame/TheMagicCircle'' is a game about a [=3D=] remake of a RPG game from the 80s that ended up stuck in developmental hell for years, seriously messing up the world inside. Eventually, one of the [=NPC=]s gains sentience and sets out on his own quest to fix the broken world before the plug gets pulled on the game.

--> '''Step 3:''' Explaining myself. '''''(Scott:''''' ''[walking in with the still wet Macbook] "Hey boss, funny story, so uh, the hard drive corrupted..."''

* ''WebVideo/ScottTheWoz'': Fittingly for an episode titled [[TroubledProduction/VideoGames 'Development Hell']], the opening skit shows Scott's owne troubled development cycle in action when he gets commissioned to make a game for a company. Apparently, this happens every two weeks and he's not really sure what's going wrong [[spoiler:and jn reality they actually wanted him to make a Snickers bar instead]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' episode "Horrificator" has Marinette's class trying to film a horror movie at their school which suffers from such problems as the lead actress being too frightened by the monster costume used to even do one scene, constant in-fighting amongst the crew, and the aforementioned lead actress [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers being turned into an actual monster and terrorizing the other students.]]

** As soon as the play opens, the lead actor Ben Gillroy walks out on stage and collapses in the middle of his opening monologue. He's pronounced dead, but is later discovered to be alive and surprises the attendees at his memorial service at the Arconia apartment building. Shortly afterward, he falls down an elevator shaft and dies for real. However, the fact that he dies in the Arconia gives Oliver, Charles, and Mabel the justification to investigate his death on their podcast. [[note]] When they started it, Charles suggested they limit themselves to only murders committed in the Arconia. [[/note]]

* ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' has "Cartoon Buffoon", involving the characters struggling to make a cartoon. HilarityEnsues

* Patrick Quentin's ''Puzzle for players'' consists entirely of this. At one point, the desperate Broadway producer explicitly [[LampshadeHanging writes down a list]] of "13 reasons why ''[[MeaningfulName Troubled Waters]]'' cannot possibly see the light of day".

* ''Blown Away'', the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' version of ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' in ''Literature/MovingPictures''. The dwarfs object to being stereotyped as miners, the leading lady objects to the RomanticFalseLead being a troll, the troll objects to that objection, and C.M.O.T. Dibbler is trying desperately to recoup his losses by sticking ProductPlacement wherever he can (he'd accidentally discovered SubliminalAdvertising, and figured if one frame of an ad worked, a full minute in the middle of the climax would work even better). At one point someone asks why all Dibbler's moving pictures are set "in a world gone mad", and gets the reply "Because Mr Dibbler is a very observant person."

* ''Literature/TheTechnicolorTimeMachine'' by Harry Harrison is about a struggling studio's attempt to shoot a historical epic about Vikings using a time machine.
* Stephen King's ''Literature/{{Misery}}'' has Paul Sheldon, creator of the titular trashy pulp romance series that he can't stand, try to definitively end it by killing off the main character. Unfortunately, he then breaks his legs in a car accident and ends up in the care of LoonyFan Annie Wilkes, who goes off the deep end upon finishing the new book and uses various tortures to force him to write a new one that undoes Misery's death. Paul is quite surprised to find that the end result may just be the best thing he's ever written, and has it published after he escapes, where the story behind it naturally gets it even more attention.

* ''Film/TheProducers'', when they weren't troubling their own production, were overjoyed with the 'bad luck' that struck it, until the worst disaster: audiences loved "SpringtimeForHitler".

* ''Nekyia Corridor'', a VR movie in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' universe, was hit badly by this and is famous in-universe for how much trouble it caused for the cast and crew as well as a terrorist attack. It was so bad that it formed a StoryArc on Mass Effect's Cerberus Daily News spin-off [[spoiler: but it was a financial and critical success nonetheless]].
** Lightning struck Nathan Gold, the leading man, while strapped to the surface of a spaceship in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant which fried his suit's electronics and required him to get more oxygen.
** [[ThePrimaDonna Kate First]], the leading lady, walked off the set with phone footage of her having a tantrum hit the extranet. [[WagTheDirector Her tantrums had caused some of the movie to be rewritten.]]
** The day after principal photography finished on the movie, the turian city Vallum of the planet Taetrus was obliterated after a ship crashed into the capital at near-FTL speeds which later turned out to be a terrorist attack[[note]]Ships come equipped with a system to prevent ships flying into planets at these speeds, only the system was turned off in this case[[/note]]. Unfortunately, there was a scene in which a lovelorn pilot [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents crashed a ship into a city at FTL speeds]]. [[spoiler: The scene is in the final production, only it [[FadeToBlack cuts to black]] just before the disastrous impact.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheHex'': Lionel Snill's third game, the fantasy RPG ''Secrets of Legendaria'', was going to be his magnum opus, but he had to do a lot of work to fund such a massive project. Digging through the game reveals that he was a MeanBoss who overworked his employees, especially Carla Dosa, and did things like [[DummiedOut cut]] a fishing minigame she worked for months on while ignoring her advice on how to improve the game. It ended up a buggy mess that broke on stream, so Lionel took the severance packages and fled to the desert, abandoning his workers. His harsh living conditions in the desert inspired his next game, ''Waste World'', but he only coded a few battles and maps before giving up on it and subsequently getting into legal battles with modders for adding stuff he disapproved of.

* Adam Butcher's ''WebVideo/CatastropheCrow'' charts the development of the Nintendo 64 mascot platformer of the same name, by German studio Opus Interactive. What began upon its reveal to the public as a boundary-pushing game that sought to realize auteur lead developer Manfred Lorenz' unique creative vision using advanced technology, gradually devolved into a work environment that left many designers and artists in the lurch as to what they were even working on. According to several anonymous team members, Lorenz insisted they craft increasingly surreal assets without foreknowledge for what they would be used for, isolating himself from the rest of the studio and causing the scope of the game to rapidly expand beyond any reasonable release date. Months turned into years as development hobbled along beyond the rise of a new generation of hardware that outstripped the N64, with millions of dollars still being spent and eventully reaching a fever pitch with most of the team being dismissed from the project besides Lorenz himself, who confined himself to the Opus offices slaving away at the game. Ultimately, once debt collectors came to said office to shut things down permanently, Lorenz had already departed along with the development hardware. Tragically, mere days later, he would be pronounced missing when his personal boat was discovered unmanned several miles from shore in the North Sea. With the game ultimately dying with him, there seemingly remains no trace of what was worked on all these years.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has had a few episodes involving this.
** In "Radioactive Man". the naive producers of a movie adaptation of the popular comic book character decide to shoot their film in Springfield based solely on the town's misspelled ''Variety'' ad, and chaos ensues.
*** Local businesses promptly milk the cast and crew for all they're worth by jacking up prices at stores, restaurants, etc.
*** Not that the locals don't get some karmic payback; the Simpsons' own house was used for a location set and Homer is paid only a few thousand dollars for the resultant damage done to it to set up lights, etc.
*** Leading man Rainier Wolfcastle proves consistently unable to say Radioactive Man's catchphrase "Up and atom!" as anything but "Up and at them!"
*** Milhouse van Houten is picked from the local kids to play {{Sidekick}} Fallout Boy (because the best child that auditions, Bart Simpson, is not quite tall enough). The boy does not take well to the rigors of movie production and eventually flees the set, which results in the ruination of an expensive, one-take-only action setpiece. From there, an attempt is made to finish the movie with only previously shot footage of Milhouse, which gets the editor fired ("And with good cause!") Milhouse is tracked down to Bart's treehouse but even a pep talk from Mickey Rooney can't convince him to return to the set. The filmmakers try recasting the role with Rooney, but it's no more successful, and having run out of money thanks to the aforementioned gouging return to Hollywood, where they're warmly welcomed back by the locals to a town that will complete the film ''properly'' -- and that [[HorribleHollywood just treats people right]].
** "Homer the Whopper" involves a film version of an independent superhero comic book made by Comic Book Guy that winds up becoming one. For the film version, Homer gets cast as the hero Everyman because he fits Comic Book Boy's vision of Everyman being a fat, middle-aged man (like [[TheEveryman a typical everyman character]]). However, [[ExecutiveMeddling studio executives convince Homer that audiences want a physically fit Everyman]] and hire a fitness trainer to get Homer to the ideal weight. Everything works smoothly until the trainer has to leave to help another client, causing Homer to revert back to his usual eating habits. In turn, the film goes over budget, and the final project shifts back and forth between scenes featuring thin Homer and scenes with regular-sized Homer.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'': Every single in-universe album during the show's run. The first is done underwater in an attempt to sound as "analog" as possible, deafening the producer. But the biggest example of this trope is the second album: the band procrastinated big time getting it out, causing mass panic. When they finally got to it, Nathan demanded to perform in a suit of armor that made recording difficult, Pickles was starved while everyone else ate, Toki and Murderface produced their own song which, due to how bizarre it was, failed to even make it on the album and to top it all off, Guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf was forced by feedback to do his guitar parts skydiving, and thanks to Toki deleting the parts, they did it twice. And then when they ''did'' release the album, an anti-Dethklok terrorist group attacked Mordhaus, leaving said Mordhaus burned to the ground and their manager [[spoiler: believed]] dead.
** The best part? They experimented by recording the music ON water (ItMakesSenseInContext), and then they all used the water they recorded the music on for mundane purposes.
-->"YOU'RE MAKING RAMEN NOODLES WITH SKWISGAAR'S SOLO!"
** The album after that: well, recording itself seemed to have gone fine, but Dethklok then faced accusations of racism, and their attempts to rectify that misconception just made them look worse, then when the album was shipped, a freak storm sank the ships with all the copies of the album, and Nathan destroyed the master copy after believing that the sinking was a sign the album shouldn't exist. This caused the economy to plummet. Their first attempt to rebuilt the economy, the Dethfairs, didn't go so well. Then their usual producer, Dick Knubbler, is fired and replaced with Abigail Remeltindrinc, causing tension between Nathan and Pickles, who both want in her pants. When Nathan succeeds, Pickles, furious that Nathan destroyed the album and got the girl, quits the band. [[spoiler: At what's supposed to be their final concert, it's attacked by Mr. Selatcia, the president of their company is murdered, and Ofdensen is forced to reveal the truth about the prophecy surrounding Dethklok to them. There is a HopeSpot when Nathan apologizes for causing Dethklok's breakup, but then the Revengencers attack, and both Toki and Abigail are injured and captured. The fourth season ends with Ofdensen saying that they need to save them if they're going to finish the album that will prevent the Metalocalypse.]]
** It's not like their live concerts were walks in the park either. Death and mutilation are commonplace, to the point that attendees must sign pain waivers ''absolving Dethklok of any responsibility for their injuries''. (That fans happily sign them says something about their devotion.) In the very first concert we see an errant rocket launched their chef into helicopter blades. There's the concert where they end up brawling on stage. There's also the concert they didn't even perform because they had the blues. [[spoiler:And of course the only reason they ended up saving Toki in the end was because they got busted using a hologram of Toki and the fans nearly rioted.]] And then there's what happened when they allowed Get Thee Hence to be their opening band: the fans got offended that they weren't Dethklok and attacked them.
** Special note to their Dethwater concert, which Nathan didn't even want to perform because it technically wasn't for human listeners. General Crozier decided to go over the Tribunal's head and attack Dethklok at the concert, sending an entire army and an assassin to kill them. While the band lived, they lost a significant portion of their Klokateers and the fact that they nearly died drove them into seclusion.
** But if we bring up live concerts, then there's the two Snakes 'n' Barrels concerts seen. The first one ended abruptly when everyone except Pickles overdosed on Totally Awesome Sweet Alabama Liquid Snake. The second one had the light show trigger a lingering side effect, causing hallucinations and bioluminescent snakes to shoot out of their orifices (yes, all of them), Pickles beat up [[StraightEdgeEvil Rikki Kixx]], who usurped the band from him, and Dr. Rockso fell off the wagon. The best part is this was supposed to be a UsefulNotes/StraightEdge concert, and all the disasters caused everyone to drink and do drugs.
** Nathan had an entire monologue on how troubled a Zazz Blammymatazz reunion was. The first time Rockso took acid and sprayed a woman with a hose, the second time he od'ed on cocaine he was trying to smuggle in the country, and the third time he was shot trying to steal cocaine from a cartel. Toki tries to make this current attempt succeed, but it nearly fails too when a reporter uncovered that Rockso was an {{Ephebophile}} who had been busted having sex with a 14 year old. They finally got the reunion to happen, but then Toki got freaked out by a bicentenial quarter and burned the building down.
** Their attempt to branch out into film, ''Blood Ocean'', goes into this very quickly. The film's 500-million-dollar budget jumps it into the category of "most expensive movie ever made", and that's just the starting line. Dethklok proves impossible to direct (their contracts stipulate that they ''can't'' be directed), and the project passes through multiple directors, at least one of whom commits suicide due to Dethklok's constant abuse, and another being killed in a forklift accident. Not helping matters is that Dethklok [[BadBadActing cannot act]], with Skwisgaar's accent being so thick that they're forced to dub over it, and the film's script is a plodding mess of a RandomEventsPlot. When Dethklok sees the final cut on opening night, they immediately realize that if it gets out, it could sink their careers. Thankfully for them, as is typical, an accident sets the theatre on fire and nearly kills the producer (who was determined to get the movie out just to get some return on his investment).
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' revolved around director Vincent Wong's attempt to make a re-make of a cheesy spy movie ''Spy Me A River''. Besides the [[ThePrimaDonna lead actor]] quitting halfway through, no one reading the script, Mystery Inc. being used as stunt doubles, and a ClassicallyTrainedExtra with [[TheStarscream eyes on the lead role]], the production was haunted by the Faceless Phantom [[spoiler: who turned out to be the director who wanted to sabotage the film after realising how awful it was]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short ''WesternAnimation/BlooperBunny'' showcases [[AnimatedOuttakes every last mistake and pratfall]] performed by Bugs, Daffy, Elmer and Yosemite Sam. For a 20-second short for Bugs' 51 ½th Birthday.
* The three-part "Starbright" storyline in ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}''. Rival band The Misfits take over the studio and cause so much trouble for Jem and the Holograms that everybody involved quits. When The Misfits retool the film for themselves, they go massively overbudget and receive a dozen lawsuits from various unions. [[StartMyOwn Jem and the Holograms decide to make their own movie]], with theirs being a massive success while The Misfits' movie flops hard.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' had an episode where Phil and Lil were hired as actors for a diaper commercial. The director was a massive prima donna, Phil refused to even do a simple action (possibly stage fright) and Lil ended up causing chaos chasing down a toy car. The director gets so fed up, he kicks the twins out, with Betty all too happy to take them out. However, when the commercial proves to be a hit, the director attempts to crawl back and win them back. Betty isn't having any of it and the twins, along with Tommy (who was told this story) just walk away.
* The ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' episode "Horrificator" has Marinette's class trying to film a horror movie at their school which suffers from such problems as the lead actress being too frightened by the monster costume used to even do one scene, constant in-fighting amongst the crew, and the aforementioned lead actress [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers being turned into an actual monster and terrorizing the other students.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Cartmanland" documents Cartman's turbulent experience with running an amusement park of his own -- from beginning to end.
** Cartman inherits one million dollars from his deceased grandmother [[note]] because she assumed that the rest of family would just waste it all on crack [[/note]]. He selfishly refuses to give any of the money to his friends, and doesn't listen to advice from adults on what to do with it. Instead, Cartman uses his earned funds on fulfilling his lifelong dream: owning the local amusement park, North Park Funland. The previous owner, Frank Fun, is hesitant to sell the park because it was such a financial failure, but gives in when Cartman states he won't intend to run it as a business; the park would just be open for only him and him only.
** The glee and excitement of having a theme park, rechristened Cartmanland, all to himself becomes short-lived for Cartman; he launches a TV ad campaign solely to gloat that ''nobody'' -- "Especially [my friends] Stan and Kyle!" -- can come to the park (except himself). This triggers Stan and Kyle to attempt sneaking inside the park. In response, Cartman sends them away and hires a security guard to keep out any further trespassers. However, upon realizing that Cartman had already spent every last penny inherited on opening the park, the guard refuses to work without a paid salary. Turning down Cartman's desperate and weak offer of paying him with free rides, the guard suggests that Cartman allow two people per day into the park, with the admission charges going toward his salary. Cartman reluctantly does so.
** The rising costs for security, food, maintenance, and utilities cause Cartman to begrudgingly let more and more people into his park, and thus the attendance becomes well in the thousands, making the park a smash success. [[GoneHorriblyRight Business experts mistake Cartman's "You can't come" technique as an ingenious marketing ploy to turn around the once-struggling park]]. By this point, Cartman is utterly ''livid'', since now he won't have the park to himself anymore and will subsequently have to deal with long lines (which he loathes, as established earlier in the episode). When Frank Fun visits the park and congratulates him on his success, Cartman angrily demands his money back, ultimately selling the park back to him for a profit...
** ...but just when he thinks that he's out of the woods, Cartman is hit with one ''hell'' of a HumiliationConga: his refunded money is quickly taken away to pay off the [=IRS=] and a lawsuit by his friend Kenny's parents ([[TheyKilledKennyAgain he had died on the rollercoaster]]), leaving him with all of his one million dollars down the toilet and $13,000 in debt owed to the [=IRS=]. ''And'' when Cartman frantically tries buying the park back -- seeing that this would be his only chance to pay off his debt -- the park owner refuses because of how successful it now is. To put a cherry on top of it: the episode ends with Cartman sulking off to throw rocks at the park, [[{{Irony}} only to be pepper-sprayed by his former security guard]]!
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E17MadeInManehattan Made in Manehattan]]", Coco Pommel didn't have the time or budget for as big of a play as she imagined. Not helping is the fact that the Midsummer Theater Revival was abandoned for such a long time that the area was grown over. No one pony could restore the stage, and when the original stage collapsed, it seemed hopeless to Coco.
** In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E7HorsePlay Horse Play]]", Twilight's attempt to produce a play falls apart rapidly. The first sign of trouble is her decision to cast Princess Celestia as herself, only for it to be revealed that [[BadBadActing Celestia cannot act to save her life]]. After Celestia causes an on-set accident that destroys the prop sun that was supposed to be used, [[CloudCuckoolander Pinkie Pie]]'s attempts to replace it (with a balloon, a burning marshmallow, and ''a huge ball of fireworks she bought from Trixie in a back alley at midnight'') end up destroying the sets. Fortunately, at the end of the episode, Celestia is able to quickly come up with a plan to fix the performance.
** Played for drama in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsMagicalMovieNight'' in "Movie Magic", as a series of mysterious incidents threaten to ruin the production of the ''Daring Do'' movie. Actors threatening to walk out, sets on the studio falling apart, and important movie props going missing. The Rainbooms are suspicious and decide to conduct an investigation to find the saboteur: [[spoiler: the director's niece Juniper Montage, who is sabotaging the production just so she could take over the starring role as Daring Do]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode ''Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture'', [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick set out to make a Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy movie with the superheroes themselves after finding out a big-budget studio version will be using...
-->"...actors."
** It goes as well as you'd expect: Mermaid Man needs 5,003 takes just for '''''one''''' line, Plankton keeps getting the boom mic in the shot, the set ends up destroyed when a scene with the "Invisible Boatmobile" ([[ItMakesSenseInContext which is played by Pearl]]) goes wrong, and to top it all off, [[FromBadToWorse the footage is completely useless]] because Patrick, the cameraman, '''''kept the lens cap on the camera because he didn't want to lose it,''''' causing [=SpongeBob=] [[CreatorBreakdown to completely lose it to the point of]] [[{{Squick}} slurping up worms from the bottom of a rock.]] It is only thanks to a [[ScatterbrainedSenior totally nonsensical "speech"]] from Mermaid Man that [=SpongeBob=] is convinced to finish the movie, albeit on a much lower budget. ''[[NoBudget And]]'' ''[[ObviousStuntDouble it]]'' ''[[SpecialEffectsFailure shows.]]''
** In fact, the only reason people showed up for the movie's premiere at the Krusty Krab at all was because the studio version sold out.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' had the episode "Lights! Camera! Danger!" where Jimmy and his friends win a contest to make their own movie. However, the director changes up Jimmy's script and has them film in more risky locations, such as having them jump off a rooftop with wires or do a romance scene on a broken rollercoaster. It's revealed that the director is secretly [[spoiler:Professor Calamitous, who is invoking all this danger to try and kill Jimmy and his friends, even replacing props with killer robots]].

* The classic Alka-Seltzer "That's a spicy meatball!" commercial where an actor needs to do dozens of takes for his single line on a commercial shoot because he keeps messing up. In the end, he says the line right...only for a door on the set behind him fall off, resulting in yet another take.

* ''Film/TropicThunder'' parodies this phenomenon, with specific jabs at ''Film/ApocalypseNow''. Funnily enough, a minor example of this happened during production. During the opening scene, Creator/BenStiller's character is supposed to say "alright, can we cut now?" after a scene in the [[ShowWithinAShow Film Within a Film]] goes wrong. Problem was, Stiller also directed the film, so when his character said "cut", the crew mistook that for their director ordering ''them'' to cut.
* A fictional example can be found in Creator/WernerHerzog's ''Film/IncidentAtLochNess''. To give any details would be ruining it. As the TroubledProduction/LiveActionFilm page shows, it is inspired by Herzog's actual career.
* ''Film/LivingInOblivion'' is a nineties independent flick in which Creator/SteveBuscemi plays the role of a director in a nineties independent flick where everything goes wrong. The movie itself is supposedly based on the director's experience while working on a Creator/BradPitt movie called ''Film/JohnnySuede''.
* The film within the film for ''Film/SinginInTheRain'' (''The Dueling Cavalier'') experiences a severely troubled production due to the transition from silent to talkie pictures; the cast and crew's inexperience with sound recording (and the leading lady's paint-peeling voice) causes numerous difficulties, leading the film to be laughed off by audiences at its first screening. It's salvaged by a hasty ReTool into a campy musical and the redubbing of all the film's dialogue via studio recording, complete with another actress dubbing the leading lady's lines.

* At one point in ''Film/WalkHardTheDeweyCoxStory'', Dewey Cox (under the influence of a number of drugs) attempts to create his bizarre masterpiece "Black Sheep" (a clear parody of the Brian Wilson song "Smile"), which leads to [[TheFellowshipHasEnded the band and his wife to break up with him]] and [[CreatorBreakdown his inevitable drug fueled rampage through the city in nothing but his underwear]].
-->"I need ten thousand didgeridoos!"
* ''Film/ShadowOfTheVampire'' fictionalizes the production of ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'' highlighting the disagreements between stars and producers, director and crew, and an actual vampire.

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' starts off with a film-within-a-film that has gone over schedule and budget due to Roger not [[CirclingBirdies seeing stars]] when the fridge is dropped on his head.
* In Creator/FrancoisTruffaut's 1973 film ''Film/DayForNight'', the film-within-a-film ''Meet Pamela'' runs into all sorts of problems. A power failure at the processing lab ruins footage of a key scene, the lead actress is emotionally fragile after a nervous breakdown (and nearly has a second one during filming), the actor playing her husband is having serious relationship issues and nearly walks off the film, the actress playing his mother is so drunk she can't remember her lines, a cat involved in a cutaway scene keeps running away from its mark, and [[spoiler:the middle-aged lead actor is killed in a car accident and the insurance agency won't cover the cost of reshooting his scenes with another actor.]]

* ''Film/AndGodSpoke'' is a mockumentary about an attempt to create a biblical epic that goes downhill as the production goes on, resulting in a film that looks nothing like the filmmakers' vision, but does end up as a SoBadItsGood cult classic.

* ''[[Film/CabinByTheLake Return to Cabin by the Lake]]'' is about a RippedFromTheHeadlines production based on the exploits of the horror writer serial killer from the first film. It first attracts protestors because of its exploitation of a real tragedy. Then the original killer, upset about the film's unfaithfulness, murders and impersonates one of the producers and starts to target the rest of the cast and crew.
* ''Film/FoundFootage3D'' is one part ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, and one part a {{mockumentary}} about the production of a [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie 3D]] [[FoundFootageFilms found footage horror film]]. It's clear from the start that production on the [[ShowWithinAShow Film Within a Film]] ''Spectre of Death 3D'' was a disaster in the making: the makers of the film went with the 3D angle [[DancingBear simply as a gimmick]] without considering all of the implications, the film's writers and stars Steve and Amy were in a crumbling relationship and outright hated each other by the time production began, [[ThePrimaDonna Steve's ego]] leads to a bad case of WagTheDirector, and the sound guy Carl is convinced that the cabin they're shooting in is haunted and walks out of the production halfway through. By the time Scott Weinberg of [=FEARnet=] shows up to interview the cast and crew, it's clear that things have gone horribly OffTheRails and that he'll be returning home to write an article about a film production GoneHorriblyWrong. All this comes before it turns out that Carl was right and that the house really ''is'' haunted...
* ''Film/TheBadAndTheBeautiful'' is a bitter condemnation of the increasingly ruthless Hollywood system of the 1940s and '50s, personified in producer Jonathan Shields. The son of a producer so hated in the industry that his funeral was mostly attended by paid studio extras, Shields flounders in B-movie hell until he creates a surprise hit by utilizing the concept of NothingIsScarier rather than show ridiculous "cat men" costumes. But he continually finds himself in various binds that cause him to betray his collaborators, and his effort to direct a film himself after driving the studio director to quit is a self-admitted disaster. The film's framing device is that he's in yet more trouble and has to come crawling back to three of the people he screwed over, arguing that they were all able to channel the emotions he stirred up into far greater success than they likely would have otherwise.
* The stage adaptation of Creator/RaymondCarver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" at the center of ''Film/BirdmanOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'' is in serious trouble. At the beginning of the movie, Ralph, a key supporting actor, is injured shortly before previews; Riggan, the [[IAmTheBand writer, director and star]] of the play, who may even have arranged the accident, takes advantage of his injury to recast the part because he was dissatisfied with Ralph's performance. He is replaced by Mike Shiner, a talented [[MethodActing method actor]] who is also a {{Jerkass}} on the verge of breaking up with his girlfriend... who plays his wife in the play. At previews, Mike breaks character to harshly criticize Riggan's adaptation of the story and complains that they aren't using real gin onstage; later, he gets caught with [[RagingStiffie an erection visible through his underwear]] during the play's climax. We also learn that the play's finances are shaky; Riggan is considering taking out another mortgage on his beach house in Los Angeles to tide it over. An influential ''New York Times'' critic tells Riggan she's going to pan his play regardless of how it turns out because she resents Hollywood actors like him taking up valuable space on Broadway. Oh, and Ralph files a lawsuit against the production over his accident. [[spoiler:The play's fortunes are reversed only when Riggan concludes opening night by attempting suicide on stage, which turns the play into a media sensation and earns it praise from the critic for its "super-realism".]]
* ''Film/TheBubble2022'' follows a global pandemic derailing ''Cliff Beasts 6: Battle for Everest: Memories of a Requiem'', the latest installment in [[JurassicFarce a popular franchise featuring dinosaurs]] (clear reference to ''Film/JurassicWorldDominion'' suffering with the Usefulnotes/Covid19Pandemic), leading to plenty of studio-imposed changes and the actors quitting, going insane from isolation or without their limbs.

* ''Series/SlingsAndArrows'' has one of these every year. [[spoiler:The first two turn out well; the third one ends with the lead actor dying and everyone else involved in the production being fired]].
* Part one of ''[[Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies]]'' revolves around Indy engaging in a battle of wits with RealLife primadonna director Erich von Stroheim over ''Foolish Wives''.

* The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS3E08DocumentaryFilmmakingRedux Documentary Filmmaking: Redux]]" depicts the Dean trying to film a 30-second ad for the college. It starts innocently enough. The only issue is Jeff reluctantly playing the Dean in the commercial. He has his scenes shot around the statue of Creator/LuisGuzman with the hopes that Guzman's people will have the footage pulled for unauthorized use of his image. It backfires when Guzman asks to be in the commercial himself. His sudden desire to participate turns the Dean into a PrimaDonnaDirector demanding absolute perfection and slowly driving himself and all the other characters to madness. (At one point, he goes through dozens of takes of Britta and Troy hugging because he doesn't find it believable.) The episode is shot as Abed's documentary, which explicitly described as the ''Film/HeartsOfDarkness'' to the Dean's ''Film/ApocalypseNow''.

* A sketch from ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' has Benny as a French avant garde director who deflates the pretensions of an interviewer by revealing that all the supposed brilliant touches of his latest film were the result of problems during filming. Changing from color to black and white as the heroine's fantasy world is shattered? They just happened to run out of color film at that point and didn't have money for more. Using a documentary style with handheld cameras? Two crew members got in a fight and broke the tripod. Having the heroine lisp? She was played by the producer's girlfriend, who really had a lisp. A woman saying a profound statement to a waiter? She was supposed to just be ordering soup and blew her line. The dog running across in the final shot? A complete accident from a dog that had been pestering them throughout the entire shoot.

* The first two episodes of ''Series/Studio60OnTheSunsetStrip'' detail this with the season premiere of the eponymous ShowWithinAShow. First, a controversial sketch is cut due to ExecutiveMeddling prompting an on-air rant from the showrunner. This gets him fired and replaced by the main characters Matt and Danny. [[note]] Ironically, Matt wrote the controversial sketch. [[/note]] Now, they have to put on the premiere with the events of the failed premiere hanging over their heads. Not helping is that cast member Harriet used to date Matt and their past does come up. Additionally, the writers struggle to come up with sketches and the musical guest (Music/TheWhiteStripes) pulls out for medical reasons. Finally, they have a EurekaMoment from an offhand comment and open the show with the cast singing a promise to behave themselves. The rest of the series seems to avoid this.
* ''Series/{{GLOW 2017}}'' is a heavily fictionalized retelling of the 1980s [[Wrestling/{{GLOW}} "Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling"]] promotion. The show is helmed by a notorious schlockmeister whose past work is barely above porn, and the women are hired for their looks first and foremost with hardly any having actual wrestling skills. Then their funding is abruptly cut off due to the producer's mother getting wind of the kind of money her son has been throwing around on it. Plus, the real life animosity between two of them after one slept with the other's husband gets them cast as the headlining face and heel, which the one who was cheated on naturally causes some issues over. By the time the pilot is actually made, the crew is outright comparing themselves to Film/AndyHardy characters and hoping they can also use sheer pluck to put on a good show against all odds.
* The ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' episode "Ham Radio" had the station put on a murder mystery radio show with Frasier directing. The whole thing goes OffTheRails. The cast includes Roz, Bulldog, Bulldog's girlfriend, Gil, and a veteran voice actor who's handling six different roles. The veteran gets into an argument with Frasier and quits, so Frasier replaces him with Niles. Niles, however, has to handle those same six roles without a chance to read the script beforehand. Roz has a root canal before the show (however, this helps her performance as her character is German and her garbled speech comes across as an accent). Bulldog comes down with a serious case of stage fright and his character ends up mute. His girlfriend only has one line ("Look out, he's got a gun!") which gets screwed up by her dyslexia ("Look out, he's got a nug!") And after his FinalSpeech is cut for time, Gil is determined to deliver it no matter how hard Frasier tries to stop him. Finally, Niles gets fed up with Frasier's direction, goes off script, and kills the entire cast of characters.
* The unauthorized theatrical production of ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' in the ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' episode "Something Larry This Way Comes" hits a snag before it even begins as the result of Al having to fill in for Larry at the last moment after Gary knocks him out out of sheer spite due to Gary having invested money in one of Larry's failed business schemes in the past. Since Al doesn't remember the lines, can't play a piano (or a synthesizer, in this case), and still has his werewolf costume he wears for his own failed shoe sales promotion event underneath his formal attire that's barely holding together, and both Al and Kelly [[BadBadActing are bad at acting]], [[EpicFail it turns out badly]].
* The two seasons of ''Series/AmericanAuto'' show the development of the Payne Pika 10K, the first car to be introduced under the leadership of new CEO Katherine Hastings. It does not go smoothly.
** The car first comes up in "Earnings Call" during the eponymous earnings call. It's mentioned that the company is planning to build an entry-level car costing twelve-thousand dollars [[note]] which would have been around the price of the actual cheapest car on the American market at the time, the Mitsubishi Mirage [[/note]]. Thinking customers prefer round numbers, Hastings cuts the selling price to ten thousand without anyone else's input. (This episode aired in 2022.)
** "The $10K Car" shows the result of Hastings' price cut: to make the car profitable, various features had to be cut. This ends up making the Pika TheAllegedCar due to its ungainly looks, rough ride, loud engine, poor fuel economy (despite being a compact), and brakes that take at least twenty seconds to work. Hastings considers cancelling the project until an article in ''Car And Driver'' emboldens her to bring it to market. Despite its various flaws, the car is greenlit.
** "Millbank, IA" has Payne Motors preparing to open a factory in the town to build the Pika and bring them much needed jobs. Before they can do so, they receive a counter-offer from an Eastern European country with a history of human rights violations which they find too tempting to pass up. They eventually bail on the town, only for a coup to break out in the European country forcing them to come crawling back to the town. However, news of their decision reaches the townspeople, resulting in an icy reception.
** In the middle of all this, an incident unrelated to the Pika causes severe damage to Payne's stock price and reputation. The fallout has Hastings ask for six months to return their stock price to what it was or she'll quit.
** After that, the Pika goes unmentioned until "Dealer Event" when the car is officially unveiled. The unveiling has Hastings drive the car filled with rabbits into the room herself. However, she's afraid of rabbits which requires to her take meds for it. The meds leave her so loopy that she crashes the car on the way out. Additionally, many of the dealers tell the executives they won't be selling the Pika. In the aftermath of this, they get the idea to sell the car directly to the consumers.
** The car officially goes on sale in "Judgement Day" which is also the deadline for returning the stock prices to their previous value. Their attempt to announce the car on a news program hits a snag when breaking news reports on a typhoon in China which cripples the stock market. However, they do manage to recover their stock price. It's then revealed that the Pika has drawn two hundred thousand pre-orders online and gotten much praise for its simplicity and low cost.
* Oliver Putnam from ''Series/OnlyMurdersInTheBuilding'' is a theatre director whose musical adaptation of ''Film/{{Splash}}'' had an incident where several cast members were injured. He finally is able to get a new play, ''Death Rattle'', to the stage in the show's third season. Then that takes a bad turn:
** As soon as the play opens, the lead actor Ben Gillroy walks out on stage and collapses in the middle of his opening monologue. He's pronounced dead, but is later discovered to be alive and surprises the attendees at his memorial service at the Arconia apartment building. Shortly afterward, he falls down an elevator shaft and dies for real. However, the fact that he dies in the Arconia gives Oliver, Charles, and Mabel the justification to investigate his death on their podcast. [[note]] When they started it, Charles suggested they limit themselves to only murders committed in the Arconia. [[/note]]
** Shortly after Ben's death, it's revealed that one of his co-stars, Loretta, fought seriously to join the play when Ben was cast. However, her acting skills are a little lacking with her playing the role in grating ways and missing a cue at one point. However, Oliver decides to cast her anyway due to some attraction for her.
** Oliver runs into a theatre critic and asks her what she thought of the play. She gives it a thorough bashing, criticizing almost every aspect. Oliver takes the criticism so harshly, he suffers a mild heart attack. He then picks up on something she said which inspires him to rework ''Death Rattle'' into a musical titled ''Death Rattle Dazzle''. This is bad news for Charles (who was also cast in the play) because he finds it difficult to perform the musical numbers, suffering blackouts twice. Oliver tries to replace him with Creator/MatthewBroderick but changes his mind when Creator/MelBrooks tells him how demanding Broderick can be.
** While visiting Loretta's apartment, Oliver finds a scrapbook which seems to cover much of Ben's career. But she was actually using it to chronicle Ben's adopted brother Dickey [[spoiler:because she's his biological mother]]. A rehearsal gets interrupted by the police questioning the cast and crew. They decide to arrest Dickey which leads Loretta to falsely confess to Ben's murder. This causes Oliver to have a more serious heart attack.
** After Oliver is released from the hospital, he, Charles, and Mabel try to piece together what happened before the show's original opening. They discover that Ben was having a really rough night. He got into arguments with several co-stars (the one with Loretta led to Charles punching him), a group of women he befriended were unable to attend, and he fired a documentarian he'd hired to follow him. Despite trying to fast for the show, he gave in and ate a cookie. He didn't realize that an advance review for the play called him the weak link, so [[spoiler:Donna the producer]] laced the cookie with rat poison to buy time for a better show. [[note]] However, she didn't push him down the elevator shaft. Her son Clifford accidentally did that when Ben confronted him about her poisoning him. [[/note]]
** One last thing to go wrong was the new lead actor getting sick, necessitating a replacement. This ended up being Oliver himself. Despite all of this, the play is warmly received.

* The first two seasons of ''Series/AmericanAuto'' show the development of the Payne Pika 10K, the first car to be introduced under the leadership of new CEO Katherine Hastings. It does not go smoothly.

* The ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "(Blooper) Bunny" showcases [[AnimatedOuttakes every last mistake and pratfall]] performed by Bugs, Daffy, Elmer and Yosemite Sam. For a 20-second short for Bugs' 51 ½th Birthday.

* Parodied in ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' when the cast tries to make a movie, and everyone's favorite RealityWarper starts causing...problems. Mikuru nearly kills Kyon with her spontaneously developed EyeBeams, a cat gains advanced intellect and [[TalkingAnimal the ability to speak]], extinct birds appear out of nowhere, and so on. Also, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Haruhi is even more of a jerk than usual]].

* In the ''Anime/SailorMoon R'' episode "Steal a Kiss from Mamoru: An's Project Snow White", the Sailors learn that Mamoru is having troubles with a play -- the class he was in all walked off the project over roles. Usagi, who is trying to break through what she thinks is LaserGuidedAmnesia since his death and resurrection, decides they should help him out. The girls end up fighting over who should be the lead of the play "Snow White" -- Rei, because she chose the play; Usagi, because she's cute and adorable; Makoto, because of her [[UnusualEuphuism "tal]][[BuxomBeautyStandard ent"]]; Minako, because she has grace and elegance; and Ami, because [[StatingTheSimpleSolution being Snow White would be easy for for such a studious girl with so few lines]]. Not even Naru and Umino can stop them! However, An shows up with the idea for them to draw straws -- red gets the Evil Queen, white gets Snow White and blue gets the "fairies". However, An cheats, tearing off her straw piece so that she got white instead of blue, leaving Usagi as the queen and the rest as "fairies". When An offers Ali the role of the last "fairy", he rejects it and, out of jealousy as he wanted to be the prince to An's Snow White, summons a [[MonsterOfTheWeek Cardian]] to disrupt it. When it attacks, the simple Snow White play turns into a fight between the Cardian and the Sailor Guardians, which the audience don't realize is not part of the play.

* In the ''Anime/SailorMoon R'' episode "Steal a Kiss from Mamoru: An's Project Snow White", the Sailors learn that Mamoru is having troubles with a play -- the class he was in all walked off the project over roles. Usagi, who is trying to break through what she thinks is LaserGuidedAmnesia since his death and resurrection, decides they should help him out. The girls end up fighting over who should be the lead of the play "Snow White" -- Rei, because she chose the play; Usagi, because she's cute and adorable; Makoto, because of her [[UnusualEuphuism "tal]][[BuxomIsBetter ent"]]; Minako, because she has grace and elegance; and Ami, because [[StatingTheSimpleSolution being Snow White would be easy for for such a studious girl with so few lines]]. Not even Naru and Umino can stop them! However, An shows up with the idea for them to draw straws -- red gets the Evil Queen, white gets Snow White and blue gets the "fairies". However, An cheats, tearing off her straw piece so that she got white instead of blue, leaving Usagi as the queen and the rest as "fairies". When An offers Ali the role of the last "fairy", he rejects it and, out of jealousy as he wanted to be the prince to An's Snow White, summons a [[MonsterOfTheWeek Cardian]] to disrupt it. When it attacks, the simple Snow White play turns into a fight between the Cardian and the Sailor Guardians, which the audience don't realize is not part of the play.

* The titular movie ''Literature/SirenQueen'' becomes this after an unseasonably early wildfire interrupts a shoot, which leads to a cascade of further disasters (the leading lady having to quit because of a raging benzo addiction is the ''least'' of them) that force the project into extensive rewrites and reshoots with a new director everybody hates.