But – alas! – they don’t look exactly the way we expected them to (or even just a little bit):
Month: February 2014
Why Writers Are the Worst Procrastinators
We were going to tell you all about this problem, but you know how it is. First we had to make some coffee. Then we had to drink it and clean the pot and…
Yeah, we know. Easy joke. Our bad for putting off coming up with a better one.
by Megan McArdle
Like most writers, I am an inveterate procrastinator. In the course of writing this one article, I have checked my e-mail approximately 3,000 times, made and discarded multiple grocery lists, conducted a lengthy Twitter battle over whether the gold standard is actually the worst economic policy ever proposed, written Facebook messages to schoolmates I haven’t seen in at least a decade, invented a delicious new recipe for chocolate berry protein smoothies, and googled my own name several times to make sure that I have at least once written something that someone would actually want to read.
Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 2/24/14
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
by munchman
- Cole Haddon (DRACULA) is developing NOTTINGHAM, a BBC America project about how the Sheriff of Nottingham (you remember him) becomes this foresty thief – yeppers, Robin Hood – to atone for the bad stuff he has to do in his day job. (And guess what? The munchy one absolutely loves that idea cuz…Zorro in tights seems very, very cool.)
- Jonathan Groff (HAPPY ENDINGS) is the new showrunner for NBC’s new FIFTH WHEEL, created by interweb series writers Heidi Niedermeyer & Elena Crevello (SHIT PEOPLE SAY IN L.A.). (Criminy, gang, if ever there was a fifth wheel it’s Groff with his TV network sensibility. And yours truly was so looking forward to seeing two of our own – Heidi and Elena – kick broadcast television butt.)
- Brian Larsen (not any of the Brian Larsens on IMDB) is suing all kinds of folks involved with Showtime’s RAY DONOVAN, claiming that the network stole his concept and various details. However, he isn’t suing Ann Biderman, who is credited as the creator of the show. (Cuz he figures she was just an innocent dupe who agreed to write up an idea Showtime execs gave her? Well, it wouldn’t be the first time a writer did that. Yer favorite muncher will try to keep up with this one cuz once, just once, I’d like to find out if somebody’s allegations of series stealing are, you know, actually founded in some kind of reality. Preferably real reality, but this is TV so who knows?)
Angelo J. Bell: The Gray Area of Pitching Hell
by Angelo J. Bell
I had a pitch meeting last week with a cable network that’s now vying for position in the drama space. The network is steadily making moves to develop and air content that its existing massive audience will gravitate towards without flipping the remote control.
Consider this: 12 or 15 years ago USA Network was a fledgling network trying to find its place in the growing number of cable channels and networks. Now, USA has been top network, with a distinctive style for over a decade.
Wouldn’t you have liked to be there on the ground floor, pitching ideas to the network?
WGA East Will Represent Sharp Entertainment Reality Writers
by Team TVWriter™ Press Service
Hey, this is a Big Deal even if it is a press release:
Almost three months after 150 writers and producers from Sharp Entertainment filed for a National Labor Relations Board election to join the WGA East, they’ve become union members. Ballots for an election held last month were counted February 3, the guild said today. The now-members work or recently worked as staffers on Sharp’s Doomsday Preppers, Man Vs. Food, and other series.
“We are very pleased that the writer-producers at Sharp have voted to become part of the WGAE,” said Lowell Peterson, executive director of the WGA East, in a statement today. “We anticipate entering a collective bargaining agreement with Sharp that includes the provisions we have won for writer-producers employed by other nonfiction TV production companies, he added. The announcement comes as the WGA enters its second week of talks with producers on a new labor deal.