Writers Guild of America, West Honors John August

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by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

Screenwriter John August (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) has been named the recipient of the Writers Guild of America, West’s 2016 Valentine Davies Award in recognition of his humanitarian efforts and civic service, as well as his pivotal role in fostering a community of writers. August will be honored at the WGAW’s 2016 Writers Guild Awards West Coast ceremony on Saturday, February 13, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

“John is the writer we’d all want to be: wildly intelligent, deeply practical, effortlessly inventive, and generous to a fault,” said WGAW President Howard A. Rodman. “Whether he’s creating apps, campaigning for marriage equality, mentoring younger writers, podcasting with Craig Mazin, sitting on our Negotiating Committee, or constructing a school in Malawi, John has made service to the larger community a part of his second nature. Protip: when you find yourself in difficult straits, ask yourself ‘What would John August do?’ The times you’ll regret are the times you fail to act accordingly.” read article

88th Oscar Screenplay Nominees Announced

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A lot of people think movies are dying, or maybe already dead. We at TVWriter™ are much more into TV than film, regardless of whether we’re watching actual broadcasts on actual TV sets or interweb presentations on our iPads, but the Motion Picture Academy has just released its list of Academy Award nominees for films released in 2015 and we’re passing on the important ones.

So here they are, the not-dead-yet for Best Screenplay. See ’em, read ’em, and learn from ’em, gang: read article

THE VENTURE BROTHERS Returns January 31st

Look! It’s THE VENTURE BROTHERS Season 6 Trailer! With Brock even.

When we say “returns” we don’t mean just a season premiere, oh no. We’re talking that the entire new season will be on Adult Swim starting at midnight, Sunday, January 31st, and continuing for zillions of minutes until we’re totally flooded on the wonderment of what promises to be some of the best writing on TV. read article

The Writers Guild of America, East Wants to Unionize Huffington Post

We think it’s a great idea. Ms. Huffington, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to agree. But we give her props for what follows – the site has posted this letter of intent by WGAE Prez Michael Winship, and it certainly didn’t have to. In solidarity:

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solidarity read article

BONES EP Sues Fox, Accuses Top Execs Of Cancellation Threats

It’s a harsh world out there in TV Land, boys and girls. For example:

BONES: L-R: Guest star Jay Thomas, Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz in the "The Promise in the Palace" episode of BONES airing Thursday, Nov. 12 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Kevin Estrada/FOX

by Dominic Patten

EXCLUSIVE: Bones executive producer Barry Josephson and his lawyers have done the forensics on the long-running Fox series and claim they’ve found something rotten financially. In a detailed breach of contract and fraudulent inducement complaint filed today in L.A. Superior Court (read it here), Josephson says the “unrelenting” broadcaster stiffed him and others for potentially millions in promised profit participation…. read article