Month: September 2014

Online Video Is Taking Ad Dollars From Traditional TV

Holy economic revolution, gang! Looks like interweb TV is here to stay. Who’d a thunk it? (Outside of us all, that is.)

video-advertisingby David Lieberman

The debate is over, or should be, MoffettNathanson Research’s Michael Nathanson says this morning: Advertisers are shifting spending to online video at the expense of traditional TV programming that isn’t “essential” — meaning live sports and events, hit scripted shows, and cable shows that appeal to hard-to-reach audiences. Even with a flood of political ads coming over the next few months, Nathanson just lowered his 2014 ad forecast for national broadcast TV to +2% from +5%, and for national cable to +5% from +6%.

Many media CEOs dismissed the weak ad trends in the first half of this year, blaming the Winter Olympics in Q1 or the World Cup, which peaked in July during Q3. CBS chief Les Moonves, for one, said that he’s “now seeing pacing improve significantly here in Q3, both nationally and locally, and Q4 will be even better than Q3.”

Peggy Bechko: Chop, Hack and Whittle – A Writer’s Guide to Cutting Your Work

Chopping-Wood

by Peggy Bechko

Cutting? As in shortening the length of your masterpiece? Why would you do that? What does it matter really?

Well, it matters a whole lot. If a magazine says maximum length is 2,500 words and not one more, no exceptions, the editor probably means it. Screen script? Max of 120 pages (yes there are a whole lot of ways to cheat, but it won’t win you any friends if you do), novel 100,000 words – if they say it they mean it.

If there is a stated limit it might well be the first thing the editor/reader/publisher looks at. Over limit, the hard work of hours, days weeks, could well get tossed without a backward glance. Yes, there are exceptions, but why go there? read article

Sitcoms are Hard

Ken Levine strikes again – and brilliantly so:

Miranda
The daring duo in TVWriter™’s current favorite TV sitcom, MIRANDA, on BBC

by Ken Levine

There seems to be a new trend in sitcoms – the knockoff Romy & Michele’s. Two single ditzy twentysomethings who sort of blunder through life. The difference is that the characters of Romy & Michele were carefully developed, well crafted, and there was a definite story.

BROAD CITY on Comedy Central, GARFUNKEL & OATS on IFC, and PLAYING HOUSE on USA are all very similar. Two comediennes who have worked together either as an act or a musical comedy team write and perform their own sitcoms. They’re all single-camera with a very loose format. Most of the dialogue sounds improvised, and occasionally they say some very funny things. But for the most part it’s just vamping. You’re listening to two people grope around in search of something genuinely funny. read article

How Our Obsession With Closure Is Ruining Television

Do we really have to wrap up every series that gets cancelled? Why can’t the characters we love just go on and on in our minds, doing the things we loved watching them do? Or to put it another way: What viewer of MAGNUM P.I. would have wanted to know that Tom Selleck’s future had him solving crimes in the Old Folks Home while waiting for somebody to tell him his name?

Or to put it another way:

whattheby Nathan Reese

Earlier this week, The Sopranos was back in the headlines when showrunner David Chasekinda, sorta revealed Tony’s fate in the final episode. “David Chase finally answers the question he wants fans to stop asking,” claimed the Vox.com article. Now we could finally have closure! Or could we? read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/7/14

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
by munchman

  • Chris Long (THE MENTALIST) has a new development deal at Warner Brothers. (And, yes, he’s still helping run THE MENTALIST, so if you know him now’s a good time to, you know, buddy up. Chris’ career is moving steadily upward, and it never hurts to hitch your wagon to a star. In other words, congrats, Chris Dood!)
  • Michelle Morgan (THE GIRL MOST LIKELY) has sold her comedy pilot script, THE BRAIN, to CBS. It’s about “an unintelligent guy who suffers head trauma and turns into a genius.” (Hilarity, of course, ensues. Cuz smart guys aren’t necessarily funny and neither are dumb guys, but formerly dumb guys who become smart guys to the utter astonishment of their dumb friends and family are, well, not funny either but network development peeps often don’t get that.)
  • Andrew Marlowe (CASTLE)’s never seen character, Derrick Storm (the hero of a series of books written by the title character in CASTLE) is overseeing the development of a series about said hero written by said title character. The writer will be Gregory Poirier (NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS). (And Yer Friendly Neighborhood muncher is looking forward to seeing how this baby turns out. Will Castle be a character in Derrick Storm’s series? The writer of Storm’s favorite fictional detective or maybe even that self same fictional detective? I love how this already is messing with my head.)
  • Dana Klein (FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES) is writing the pilot THE BAD STANLEYS, a Fox comedy about two competitive brothers. (okay, I’ve gotta stop here and ask a question. Has anybody out there ever heard of, let alone seen, a series called FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES? Or THE GIRL MOST LIKELY? I gotta tell you that I feel like half these announcements come from another dimension. Which, come to think about it, may explain why I can’t sell anything. I’m stuck in the wrong universe!

    • Write in and tell me what you’ve sold today. TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)