Month: September 2013

Andrew Orillion: Brewing Up “On the Rocks” 5

Production and Business
by Andrew Orillion

On-The-Rocks-Logo-tvwriter.comWelcome back, everyone, to Brewing Up On The Rocks. In this fifth installment of the series, we’ll look at the production of the pilot episode and explore the business side of launching a web series. Do you know how to find the best theater for your needs, or how to handle the taxes for the money raised with a crowd funding campaign? Stay tuned for the answers.

Theaters, Theaters Everywhere

So, the staff is assembled, the pilot is written and the cast is in place now we just have to film the damn thing. You might think shooting a multicam show is simple. After all, there is usually just one location and you don’t have to deal with external factors like weather or street noise. Just find a theater, setup the stage and shoot it. If only it were that easy. read article

Does Clutter Drive Creativity?

Hey, we thought it was porn that was the guiding light in all things creative. (Especially on the interwebs.) But Kristen Fischer sees it differently:

monkey-biz-tvwriter.comby Kristen Fischer

Last month, I dismanted my desk. I took the entire top shelving unit off, which was full to the brim with everything from bills and stamps to CDs and paper clips.Call it a feng shui movement or plain-old boredom, but all the clutter was driving me crazy. So I stripped the junk, put most of it away and went with the standard monitor on desk. (Okay, there’s also a lamp, phone and picture of my dead cat.)

I am a neat person for the most part, but I know many creatives that thrive in their messes. Apparently, some people work better that way–and a new study confirms it. read article

Richard Kimble Was Guilty

Remember THE FUGITIVE? We mean the real FUGITIVE, the great ’60s TV series, not the silly feature film. Well, TV historian Stephen Bowie has been overthinking it. And the result is spot on:

the-fugitive-guilty-tvwriter.comby Stephen Bowie

STAFFORD, IND. – Richard Kimble, the small-town pediatrician and death row fugitive whose first degree murder conviction was famously overturned in 1967, may not have been innocent after all, according to new claims made this week by members of his family.

Convicted for the brutal slaying of his wife Helen Kimble in September 1961, Kimble escaped custody during a freak train derailment two years later.  He spent four years as the subject of an intensive manhunt before the discovery of new evidence led him to turn himself in to Stafford police in August of 1967. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/27/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Anthony Zuiker (CSI) has sold his new drama series, THE BOUNTY, to ABC. (And it actually looks like something new and different: “THE BOUNTY centers around one victim’s quest for justice…After her family murdered, a national frenzy erupts as she inspires…the largest bounty in history for the killer’s capture.” We love how Rod Serling-esque this show sounds.)
  • Evan Daugherty (SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN) is writing ABC’s ESMERELDA, a limited series based on The Hunchback of Notre Dame. (Sorry but our hopes aren’t all that high re this one. SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN? ESMERELDA? Remember when we used to say “Meh?”)
  • Ali Adler (THE NEW NORMAL) is writing the pilot for ABC’s new untitled comedy about what moms do while their exes have the kids. (Another show about a topic we’ve never seen on TV before. Definitely in our plus column, ABC D-folks.)
  • Danny Strong (LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER) is writing an untitled Fox pilot described as “a hip hop drama.”  (We figure this one could go either way, especially since it’s being directed by Lee Daniels. But if we had the opportunity we’re honestly not sure we’d work with a guy who insisted on making his possessory credit – which writers can never get – into the title of his work. Know what we’re sayin’>)
  • Michael Vickerman (IMPACT) is writing a 6 episode mini-series for Spike TV about the life and death of a certain Egyptian guy – King Tut himself. (And we think this is even cooler than THE BOUNTY. Politics. Intrigue. Murder. Ni-ice.)

Kathy Fuller: What Writers Can Learn From BABY DADDY

No, this is not a joke. But it is a beautifully photoshopped promo pic.
No, this is not a joke. But it is a beautifully photoshopped promo pic.

by Kathy Fuller

I know what you’re thinking. How can writers (or people in general) learn anything of import from an ABC Family sitcom? A sitcom that’s a total rip-off of the classic (and over-rated) Three Men and a Baby? A sitcom with a premise so thin it makes a spiderweb look indestructible?

Writing instructors will tell you to study the classics. Learn from the greats. Absorb the wisdom of genius. But I’m of the mind that the mediocre and downright bad can teach you just as much, if not more, about how to write…or rather how not to write.

One caveat–personally I think this show isn’t that bad. It’s fluff entertainment, and sometimes people need that. Not every show can be Boardwalk Empire or Breaking Bad or even The Big Bang Theory. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that Baby Daddy fails on several levels including plot, conflict, and characterization. Since there’s not enough blog space to go into all its foibles, I’ll focus on characterization. read article