Month: December 2014

Cara Winter: The Anglo Files 9

luther-300x175LUTHER
by Cara Winter

10 things that went through my mind upon watching the pilot episode of the UK’s LUTHER

  1. “Nice, Idris Elba. He must be the aforementioned “Luther”. Good day to you, sir. Looking fit.”
  2. “Hmm. He’s kinda angry.”
  3. “Woah, wait, he’s the good guy?  He just let that guy die! Or, maybe even caused that guy to die!  But I thought this was a show about a cop!”
  4. “Oh, he is a cop. Woah…”
  5. “He’s so angry. What’s he so angry about?”
  6. “Dang, he just kicked in that door.”
  7. “And his estranged wife is standing right there, watching him kick in her door. I’m a little afraid for her.”
  8. “Maybe she should call the cops – oh, wait.”
  9. “Okay, he didn’t hurt her. He can stay.  He’s fierce.  I like him.  This is awesome.”
  10. “Wow.  This show could never get made in the U.S.”

So, imagine my surprise to hear that LUTHER is going to be remade, here, in the US.

If you haven’t seen it, the original LUTHER is an interesting show. The formidable and god-like Idris Elba portrays the title character, a complicated detective who is consumed by his work.  He’s ruthless, obsessive, and more interested in results than in doing things ‘the right way.’  When he gets angry, it’s visceral, and you feel afraid for those around him (or excited that some bad guy’s about to get it!). And when he softens, and his vulnerability is laid bare… you feel afraid for him. read article

How Network TV Can Pull Out of Its Great Sitcom Recession

…Or, you know, not:

by Joseph Adalian

tragedy-maskNovember was another bad month in what’s been a pretty awful couple of years for the once-mighty network sitcom. NBC, which dominated the TV business for nearly two decades based on the strength of its comedy bench, announced it was ceding custody of an already-filmed Ellie Kemper half-hour from producer Tina Fey and selling the project to Netflix. The decision had nothing to do with the show’s quality — Netflix liked it so much, it has already ordered a second season— but instead was a depressing admission by the Peacock that it felt there was virtually no chance it could make the show a success given the network’s lack of even a single sitcom hit. This week’s announcement that NBC would also burn through the final season of the Amy Poehler–led Parks and Recreation in under two months added an exclamation point to the declaration of surrender: Rather than use the swan song of its longest-running and most critically admired half-hour to launch a successor sitcom, the network (probably correctly) decided it would be better off giving Parks a semi-dignified send-off and quickly moving on.

A similar come-to-Jesus moment was likely behind CBS’s unexpectedly early cancellation of the Will Arnett–Margo Martindale sitcom The Millers, just weeks into its sophomore season. The same network that had always managed to make America fall in like with middle-of-the-road sitcoms such as Rules of Engagement, Still Standing, and Mike and Molly seemed to be conceding even it no longer had the power to force us to sit still for whatever mediocrity it slotted behind a monster hit (in this case, The Big Bang Theory). By themselves, the NBC and CBS decisions didn’t dramatically alter the small-screen landscape. Taken together, they’re symptoms of something far more depressing: Network TV is suffering through a Great Sitcom Recession, and there aren’t many signs of recovery on the horizon. read article

NICKELODEON ANNOUNCES PARTICIPANTS FOR NET’S 15TH ANNUAL WRITING PROGRAM

by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

HomePage_ArtworkNickelodeon has announced four participants for its 15th annual writing program, including one representing the international expansion of the program, it was announced today by Russell Hicks, Nickelodeon’s President of Content Development and Production.

The Nickelodeon Writing Program offers aspiring writers hands-on writing experience on current live-action and animated series which includes writing spec scripts and pitching story ideas to
executives.

“We are extremely proud to have this new group of creatives join an esteemed league of great talent that our writing program has discovered and nurtured over the last 15 years,” said Russell Hicks, Nickelodeon’s prexy of content development and production. “It’s also gratifying to open up the program globally this year as we continue to expand our focus on finding the best new talent everywhere possible.” read article

UK Prodco Mentoring Up and Coming Writers

Just one of the ways the Brits do it better than us. (The “it” being TV, of course. Cuz otherwise….)

The stars of SCOTT & BAILEY wanna help us!
The stars of SCOTT & BAILEY wanna help us!

by Emily Heward

Up-and-coming writers are being offered the chance to work with award-winningSalford TV production company RED.

The company, based at MediaCityUK, is supporting the new Writing For Television prize being offered by Channel 4 and Northumbria University as part of the Northern Writers’ Awards. read article

Peggy Bechko: Characters and Skills

creation-of-man-roejae-

by Peggy Bechko

Writing is an interesting profession – you create people from scratch. Sort of build them from the ground up, or top down, whichever way you want to look at it. It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s hard as hell.

In that quest to make characters real, unusual and fascinating to the reader writers look to imparting something special to that character. Something like a unique skill or an unusual talent, some ability that will set hero or heroine apart from the every day, and yet at the same time, keep that character identifiable, relatable. It could be as simple as being a chess master and using that talent in other ways or as high-profile as being a well-known newscaster, writer or movie star.

But it’s a fine line between giving that hero or heroine some special ability and going way over the top to the point where the audience (novel reader or film goer) disconnects. That can happen when the writer doesn’t match the personality of a character and that character’s past experiences and life lessons with the particular skill or unusual talent he or she’s been given. It becomes like a tag on instead of an integral part of the character. read article