Month: February 2013

LB: How Much Did You Love the FLIGHT Sock Puppets on Sunday’s Oscar Show?

flightsockpuppetsCapture
Don’t click this one…

I loved ’em a lot, so it was an especially proud moment for me to learn that the brilliant and multi-talented Robin Walsh, who’s been hanging with us at TVWriter™ for about 2 and a half million years (that’s right, since before the religious right says the planet was “created”) was one of the puppeteers, playing the co-pilot and Hospital Denzel.

Where but TVWriter™  would you possibly get a scoop like this?

If you missed the Oscarcast, or that part of it, don’t fret. We gotcha covered right here: read article

Angelo Bell: For Filmmaking Pros – JOBS ACT Info

JOBS-Act

by Angelo Bell

Michael Barnard has written a document on the  JOBS ACT that every filmmaking professional (producer, director, writer) — that is, anyone who hopes to have a career making films — should read.

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act or JOBS Act, is a law intended to encourage funding of United States small businesses by easing various securities regulations. It passed with bipartisan support, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 5, 2012. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 2/25/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
  •  James Yoshimura (HOMICIDE, TREME) is joining HOMELAND as a writer and consulting producer. (The “consulting producer” thing probably means some other writer’s deal on the show kept the studio from giving him Exec Prod. credit, but he needed the gig and took it this way instead.)
  • Billy Ray (THE HUNGER GAMES) has a deal with Universal to write the script for its MUMMY remake. (Nope, this isn’t a TV deal, but we do want y’all to know how showbiz in general works. The MUMMY project already has a screenwriter, Jon Spaithts (PROMETHEUS), but the studio is putting a competing screenplay into work because they’re such treacherous bastards you never know how well anyone’s script will come out.)
  • If  you know Zooey Deschanel and haven’t yet hit on her for a gig, now’s the time – especially if you’re a writer. Ms. D and her company just signed a development deal with 20th Century Fox TV, which means they’ll be looking for projects. (This has been a public service announcement. But don’t be shy. We’ll be glad to take 10% if you make a deal.)
  • Chris & Paul Weitz (AMERICAN PIE, ABOUT A BOY) are writing and producing the pilot for REAMDE as a TV series for Fox, based on Neal Stephenson’s book of the same name. (Because God forbid that a television writer should get the television writing gig on a property that probably cost so much to buy. Those TV guys can’t be trusted, y’know. Especially with, um, TV.)

Invisible Mikey: My Trigger

lifetrigger

by Invisible Mikey

I was reading Zeenat’s post about daily methods for reinforcing your inner upside (http://positiveprovocations.com/2011/02/21/top-9-ways-to-be-positive-and-happy-everyday/).  The first one listed was to Carry a positive Trigger.  She was writing about having a token of something that makes you happy with you at all times.  When you get sidetracked, you can use it to get back in the game of life.  She did not realize that by saying this she reopened a beautiful memory from my early childhood.  I’ve had a positive trigger inside me since I was three!  It’s Trigger himself, the smartest horse in the movies.

Roy Rogers was a former shoe factory worker from Ohio named Leonard Slye.  He reinvented himself and became a beloved singing cowboy in movies and on TV.  In preparation for his first lead role in Under Western Skies (1938),Roy tried out several handsome horses the studio provided.  He was carried along smoothly and rapidly by a six year old palomino named Golden Cloud , but Roy was also impressed at how intelligent and responsive the horse was.  During the shoot, co-star Smiley Burnette remarked that the horse was so quick Roy ought to call him “Trigger”.  And quick he was, a fast learner and a fast runner.  The name stuck. read article

Kathy Sees “Warm Bodies”

If only all zombies were so sexay.
If only all zombies were so sexay.

Despite my intense dislike for all things zombalicious, I’ve been excited about “Warm Bodies” ever since I saw the previews during that hideous movie Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2. I thought the premise was interesting: a young zombie meets a cute girl who revives his cold dead heart. Plus his skin wasn’t peeling off in thick oozing layers. And there was a hint of snarky humor, something I can appreciate.

Alas, the humor is only a hint, the story not as interesting as promised, and most of all, the whole thing just reinforced what I’ve concluded is my main problem with zombies in general–they’re boring. They move in slo-mo, their primary form of communication is grunting, and they eat brains as a main course. What’s so exciting about that? What’s scary about that? Now if they could turn invisible, moved faster than the speed of light, and sucked your brains out of your left nostril, then that would be a little unsettling.

These zombies? Meh. read article