AKA: Our Inner Depths Don’t Always Help Our Outer Reaches; or ‘It’s All In Your Mind, Dude’
As admittedly wonderful and fascinating as the human brain is, it definitely can feel like our brain is out to get us sometimes.
We can give a quick answer: The pitches are everywhere. You doofusses just don’t know where the $#@! to look!
Pitch Season Starts Slow, NBC And ABC To Scale Back On Development Volume – by Nellie Andreeva
Exactly a year ago, at its TCA executive session NBC announced several projects in development, including a Dick Wolf-produced firefighter drama, which became the network’s upcoming drama series Chicago Fire. This year there has been only one big sale so far — the Alex Kurtzman/Roberto Orci-written and Len Wiseman-directed Sleepy Hollow, which went to Fox with a put pilot commitment.
Pitch season is starting late and is shaping up to be calmer, with less action. I hear NBC and ABC, the most aggressive players last year, are paring down the number of projects they will buy and money they will spend. With a new regime and stuffed coffers, NBC went on a buying spree last summer, joined by ABC. The two networks often ended up in heated bidding wars, sometimes joined by Fox, driving up prices and leading to a slew of big commitments…. I hear NBC and ABC now plan to spend less and go only after projects they fully believe can get to the air. Fox also will be more targeted in its approach as the network accomplished its goal of assembling a two-hour comedy block, so its comedy needs are not as great…
What? You think an adaptation of a shlock Japanese teen science fiction movie won’t fit in there? Yeah, of course you don’t.
‘Battle Royale’ Might Get Turned Into A TV Show For CW – by Kevin Jagernauth
Last fall, it was with a small amount of irony that producer Roy Lee revealed that the long-gestating Hollywood remake of the Japanese cult hit “Battle Royale” was essentially put on the back burner due to a similar film that has since become a massive hit.
Put your hands together for another very nice TV writer deal:
Howard Gordon Launches Production Company Based at 20th Century Fox TV – by Nellie Andreeva
Homeland co-creator/executive producer Howard Gordon has launched Teakwood Lane, a production company housed at 20th Century Fox TV where the former24 showrunner has spent nearly his entire career. The pod deal for Teakwood Lane replaces Gordon’s overall deal at the studio. Gordon continues as an executive producer on the critically-praised Homeland alongside co-creator/showrunner Alex Gansa, and will focus on developing and overseeing new series for all the networks, both broadcast and cable…
Okay, so not really a guarantee, but get your novel to ’em pronto. It’s a start…
FremantleMedia, the producer and distributor of several of the world’s most widely-watched television series, and Random House, Inc., the U.S. division of Random House, the world’s largest trade-book publisher, both companies of Bertelsmann AG, announced today a major new creative and strategic partnership to develop scripted television programming for the U.S. and international markets based on the fiction and nonfiction books published by Random House’s imprints in North America and internationally.
The first-look deal with FremantleMedia will reside within Random House Television, a newly created part of Random House Studio, the publisher’s rebranded and expanded entertainment division led by Peter Gethers, President. Random House Television will work together with Random House’s editors and publishers, and their authors’ agents, to identify and acquire performance rights for the full range of broadcast network, cable, and premium television scripted formats.