A year after "Bates Motel" aired, production on "" began. Perkins wanted to direct the film and even came up with a pitch for the film along with "Psycho III" screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue; however "Psycho III" was a critical and financial failure so Universal rejected that idea and Mick Garris was brought in. Joseph Stefano was the screenwriter of the original film and was brought back to write the fourth film. He had disliked the two films between I and IV, feeling that they were too commercial and catered to the conventions of slasher movies. In an interview, Stefano stated "Gearing up for "Psycho IV", I decided to ignore the two sequels – like the business in II about Norman’s mother."