Category: By munchman

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/1/14

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

  • Jordan Belfort (the “inspiration” for THE WOLF OF WALL STREET) is developing a series described as “a MAN MEN-style TV show about the excess of WALL STREET in the 1980s for Brett Ratner’s company. (Cuz if there’s one thing TV needs in the 21st Century teens it’s a show projecting the values of an infamous drug consumer and convicted con artist. Nice to have such a bright light to help us get through these difficult times, eh?)
  • Justin Halpern & Patrick Schumacker (SURVIVING JACK) have sold a comedy based on a memoir by Col. Chris Hadfield, the well-known astronaut/internet video sensation. (Yeppers, it’s all about how much harder normal life on the ground is than being an outer space celeb. My enthusiasm is, um, well, how’s “nil” sound?)
  • Amy Holden Jones (BLACK BOX) is writing the drama pilot 10 BEACON HILL for ABC, described as “a medical procedural…about a brilliant team of doctors who take on the most difficult cases. (How does this differ from HOUSE? Dig it – the head of the team is an ultra-caring medical genius instead of a dick. Hmm, munchikins thinks that could be a welcome change.)
  • Andy Stern (newbie?>) is writing a pilot for ABC about a female police psychologist who used to be a “real” cop herself. (And if that makes you wonder why your slightly more original ideas – whatever they are – keep getting turned down to the networks, keep this in mind: The producer of this series, and, I’m thinking, its intended star, is Ellen Pompeo, the star of GREY’S ANATOMY. Why aren’t I best buds with somebody who can get such a great vanity deal?)

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….)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 8/28/14

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

  • Dana Goodman & Julia Wolov (FAKING IT) are developing an untitled comedy project for MTV. (According to the P.R., said comedy project is “autobiographical.” The same press release also emphasizes how young Dana and Julia are. So of course the munchie one is just all a’tingle at the prospect of learning all about their undoubtedly riveting and meaningful lives.)
  • Pamela Gray (CONVICTION) is adapting Liane Moriarty‘s novel The Husband’s Secret for CBS. (Personally, I’d rather not have this dangerous precedent of nosing around the secrets of married men hanging over my head as I draw closer to – OMG! – potential matrimony meself.)
  • Noah Oppenheim (THE MAZE RUNNER) & Chris Bremner (newbie) are developing an Amazon Studio series called PROMISED LAND, about Moses doing his thing while getting his fellow runaway slaves hopelessly lost in the desert. (Yeppers, I admit it. I’m praying for this to be a comedy cuz…how do you take Moses seriously? And the Golden Calf business? C’mon! That’s Louis C.K. material for sure.)
  • Speaking of OMG!, Barry Eisler‘s book series, Rain, is being developed into a TV series for international production, produced by and, coincidentally starring some dude name of Keanu Reeves. (El munchero is tempted to riff on what this tells us about the state of po’ l’il Keanu’s film career, but instead I’d like to point out that no writer has yet been named for the show. So this is your chance to get in on the ground floor of the plummetting Keanu Reeves’ elevator and make yourself a few $$$. Call yer agent and get this great gig!)

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….)

TV Writing Deals: WGN America Wants Us to Watch a Couple of New Series

The upcoming TITANS series probably isn't about this team, but, hey, who knows?
The upcoming TITANS series probably isn’t about this team, but, hey, who knows?

by munchman

Which means that they’ve greenlit one for 13 episodes and have commissioned a pilot script for the other.

The greenlit (-lighted?) series is called TITANS, created by Peter Mattei, who the last el munchero heard, was a writer for CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL, a ’90s Nickelodeon series that, well, was in fact my favorite show of that era. Ah, Melissa Joan Hart, who suspected you’d grow up to become not only a teenage witch but also an adult bitch the most politically right wing actor since Charlton Heston?

But munchy digresses. TITANS is about some yutzes in Appalachia who, according to the Hollywood Reporter, seem to be the vilest set of heroes since the hillbillies in DELIVERANCE. (What? The hillbillies weren’t the heroes? They were when I saw it at a midnight show in West Virginia in the backroom of a dingy pool hall.) read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 8/12/14

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

  • Glenn Gordon Caron (MEDIUM) has a new overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV for the usual development stuff. (But Ye Munchie One is secretly hoping that what he develops isn’t usual at all. Whaddaya think? Can Glenny Boy go outre? We’ll find out.)
  • Hilary Winston (BAD TEACHER) has sold a comedy that sounds a lot like THE OFFICE to NBC, based on a Playboy column she originally wrote, called “When Your Boss Has a Vagina.” (Wanna bet that isn’t what NBC ends up calling it? Any takers? Huh?)
  • <Hunter Covington (IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA) & Stacy Traub (GLEE) are developing a comedy about a successful businesswoman who can’t seem to succeed at life for ABC. (What’s that you say? You’ve heard this particular premise before? A thousand times before? Geeze, gang, lighten up. Not everything on TV can be as new and different as…as…well, dang it, I just can’t come up with a name for a current show like that right now.)
  • David Klass (LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT), Perri Klass (RUNAWAY VIRUS), and Arthur L Caplan (the guy this new series will be about)  are writing the pilot for CBS’ AUSTEN’S RAZOR, about “a brilliant bioethicist who is called in at crisis moments to solve the most complicated, dynamic and confounding medical issues imaginable.” (Zzzz…oops, sorry, I fell asleep there just copying the description. Which pretty well sums up how well I think a show like this one will do.)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 8/8/14

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

  • Joe Wengert (newbie) is developing BIG KIDS, a comedy about a big brother who just plain tries too hard, for NBC.  (And, hey, it’s about a blue collar family, so the big munch – i.e. me – already loves it.)
  • Richard Price (CRIMINAL JUSTICE) is developing an untitled new crime drama for Fox TV. (Cuz he’s Richard fucking Price and this is a crime fucking drama, and, well, dood’s got the kinda cred I’d commit a crime or two to have. Good luck, Richard! Um, that’s not too big of a suck-up, is it? Huh?)
  • Rachel Carey‘s novel, Debt, described as “a satire of the 2008 financial meltdown in New York, is comilng to ABC Family. (Cuz ABC Family ain’t a family channel anymore and, more importantly, cuz GREY’S ANATOMY star Ellen Pompeo wants to play the lead, so what the hell. Oh, and no writer is attached, so if you know Ellen or Rachel, time to give ’em a call.)
  • Scott Peterson & Joshua Pruett (PHINEAS AND FERB) are developing HAUNTED MANSION as a special (read “backdoor pilot) as an animated Disney Channel project. (Sorry, but try as I may, your munchman just can’t get into this one. I think it’s cuz I absolutely can’t stand the Entity You May Now Prostrate Yourselves Before And Hail As Disney. Then again, it could just be my constipation. Ciao!)