Category: By TVWriter.Com

Are You Ready for Jeffrey Tambor as a TRANSPARENT?

by Team TVWriter™

We, um, thought we were, until we saw this trailer for Amazon Studios new comedy series, TRANSPARENT .

That doesn’t sound very kind, and it certainly doesn’t seem very smart to attempt to review a show by the trailer, so let’s say that the taste of TRANSPARENT we got here gives us both hope and concern. The writing is bright, funny, fast, probably the most professional writing we’ve seen on an Amazon show, and the acting by Jeffrey Tambor, Judith Light, Gaby Hoffman, and Jay Duplass is equally excellent. These guys rise well above the challenge. read article

WGAW September 2014 Calendar of Events

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Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/3/14

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

  • Michael Seitzman (INTELLIGENCE) is developing a CBS series called CODE BLACK in which, well, from the P.R. description, it seems that we’ll be seeing and even harder, edgier version of E.R. (Cuz why come up with something new when there’s a whole new generation of TV viewers who haven’t seen what’s old? Which almost sounds logical. No, not creative but…logical.)
  • Lindsey Shockly (TROPHY WIFE) has an overall deal to develop series and work on staff for ABC Studios. (And, why not? She has network TV experience on TROPHY WIFE and HELLO LADIES, and yer munchero here is absolutely sure that the fact that they tanked had nothing to do with Ms. Shockly’s contributions.)
  • Max Borenstein (GODZILLA) is writing the pilot for a TV version of MINORITY REPORT. (Which makes this particular Philip K. Dick fan flash a major kinda smile. Yes, it’s true, this is one deal methinks I can like.)
  • Sarah Watson (PARENTHOOD) is writing the pilot for an untitled CBS medical series about – ooh, you’ll never guess – “a controversial, outrageous, young tech titan who opens his own hospital with a cutting-edge approach to medicine.” Gotta admit – I’d rather watch that than another version of E.R. But it’s hard to imagine CBS doing anything with “cutting-edge” tech.)

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….)

WGAW’s Strongest Statement Yet Against the Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger

Found on the Interwebs
Found on the Interwebs

In a statement the other day, Writers Guild of America, West president Chris Keyser got on the FCC’s case in a demand to “put a stop to this spate of merger madness,” speaking for the WGAW as the Guild submitted its formal opposition to the Comcast-Time Warner Cable, um, “madness” indeed.

The whole document is 71 pages of legalese, a language totally alien to writers and other creatives. But here’s the official gist:

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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….)