Month: August 2013

Kathy Fuller: 5 Ways You’re Accidentally Making Everyone Hate You

So what does the above title have to do with writing?

1) The article is written by David Wong, a writer/novelist/my-book-is-now-a-movie-guy that I could easily hate, but because of this article I understand why I don’t have to.

2) The writing biz, whether you’re slaving in Hollywood or slaving in Ismay, Montana, (pop. 19) is filled with EGOS. The only way to avoid dealing with EGOS is to never let your writing see the light of day, and of course that’s not what you’re going to do. So navigating those EGOS while you pitch, produce, refine, get rejected, wallow in self-pity, then do it all over again is key to survival. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 8/20/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Ian Edelman (HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA) has rejoined the TV Comedy Creator Club with a pilot deal for F.O.M.O. – aka Fear of Missing Out for Fox TV. (We loved HTMIIA so we’re unsnarkily thrilled to see this baby in the works.)
  • David Hayter (XMEN) is developing a WORLD WAE III “event series” for Fox. (No, we don’t know what an event series is but assume it’s on par with, you know, being “somebody.” Oh, beloved English language, how thee hast fallen!)
  • Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont (Made Of Honor) are writing an NBC pilot about relationship mayven Laura Berman for NBC. (Hey, the producer of this project convinced NBC that the “general audience” knows who Laura Berman is. Cuz it sure couldn’t have anything to do with who the producer is – some obviously fast-talking babe named Eva Longoria.)
  • Jeremy Slater (THE FANTASTIC FOUR) is developing yet another “new take” on THE EXORCIST for TV. (Yeah, bitches, for TV, not for any specific network because enough dependence on “high concept” is enough, right? Time to actually see what’s really gonna appear on our teeny tablet/cell phone screens.)
  • Oh, wait, looks like CBS is still operating under the “blind faith in a ridiculous twist on a terrific old idea” paradigm. They’re developing THE WIZARD OF OZ as a serious medical drama to be written by Emily Fox (GHOST WHISPERER). (One step forward, one step back. Nothing remains the same but everything remains the same. Man, do we ever love TV!)

Herbie J Pilato: Do Men “Watch” While Women “View”?

132997-103rby Herbie J Pilato

In the last few months, ABC’s female-geared morning chat-fest, The View, has been experiencing a changing of the guard of sorts (or at least of hosts – i.e. Joy Behar and Elizabeth Hasselbeck have left the show).

All of which has inspired a few questions:

Do men “watch TV,” while women “view television”?  Is it more feminine to speak fancier and more masculine to utter opinions in shorter sentences?  Is that how that works when it comes to small-screen screening in particular? read article

‘Borgias’: Two-Hour Movie Script Gets E-book Treatment

Because the future is now:

jeremy_irons_francois_renaud_the_borgias_h_2013by Lesley Goldberg

The Borgias fans are getting closure after all.

The canceled theJeremy Irons drama after three seasons, the premium cable network announced Monday that creator Neil Jordan‘s script for a two-hour movie follow-up would be released this week as an e-book.

“Breaking #Borgias News! SHOWTIME and THE BORGIAS creator Neil Jordan are excited to announce the release of his new e-book, THE BORGIA APOCALYPSE, based on his original script for THE BORGIAS two-hour finale,” the network announced via Twitter. “THE BORGIA APOCALYPSE will be available this week via major e-retailers. We’re thrilled that the series’ loyal fans will have the opportunity to read Neil’s final farewell to one of history’s most infamous families.” read article

Artists as Healers

Remember that great old game, Sim Earth, where you created a planet, then populated it with evolving creatures of your choice?

The idea was that your well-intentioned Godhood would create a race of intelligent beings (we always made ours dinosaurs or dolphins) whose civilization eventually reached the stage where it left earth and headed for the stars.

One of the saddest things about the game was that the best way to prod your population into the future was by making it miserable. But, fascinatingly (and, we think, truly) the greatest misery was caused when you stopped your civilization from creating art. read article