Category: News

The North Americanization of Latin American TV

We have no idea why the people involved in this story think they’re telling us about a good thing. (But that’s how TVWriter™ rolls, or so it seems.)

MASTERS-OF-PARADISE

Latin America remains a drama market, but the type of series that are resonating has changed, with new forms of novella breaking through. The traditional soapy drama remains a programming staple region-wide, but a shorter, punchier and grittier iteration of the form is gaining ground, data for January-October 2014 shows. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 1/24/15

TOSHIBA Exif JPEGLatest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are=&0=& (Dallas Buyers Club) is writing the pilot for Syfy’s 51st State, a drama series about a future in which “the United States, confronting a prison population stretched to the limit, purchases Greenland and converts it into a frontier prison colony with male and female convicts incarcerated together.” Except, of course, that things don’t work out as planned. (Notice the not-so-subtle satire here, the whole “we’re all living in prison now” thing? Thanks to the harmless outlet that this show provides, we real prisoners won’t have to revolt after all. Whew.) Matt Tarses (The Goldbergs) is writing the pilot for a CBS comedy series called Coverband about “members of a rock band left to scramble after their lead singer dumps them for a solo career.” (LB informs yer sweet munchman that his first paid-for script was for a similarly themed feature film at MGM, but his protagonist was the lead singer. The more things change….) Exciting new unknown David E. Kelley is adapting Mr. Mercedes, a novel by another new unknown named Stephen King into a mini-series detective drama for a company called Sonar Entertainment. (Cuz in this youth-oriented market two of the most successful writers still breathing can’t get broadcast or cable network deals on their own? What gives?)

That’s it for now, munchaladas. Don’t forget to write in and tell yers truly what you’ve sold when you sell it. Cuz TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 1/22/15

TOSHIBA Exif JPEGLatest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
by munchman

  • Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan) is writing the pilot for Park Row, a drama series about “the newspaper circulation wars between publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst” in the late 1800s. The announcement makes no mention of what network or cable entity this will appear on. (Cuz “newspaper circulation wars?” “Late 1800s? What idiot executive – excuse the tautology – is going to commit to something like that? Oh wait – all of them probably. Meh.)
  • David DiGilio (Crossbones) is developing a martial arts series called Warrior for NBC. (They call it a “drama,” but yer cute little munchikins has to admit that I’ve never seen any show or movie in martial arts that even remotely resembled a genuine drama. But maybe that’s just me?)
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who old-timers might recall as some kind of basketball hero and modern TV viewers may recognize from appearances on New Girl, is co-writing a novel about Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s bro, with Anna Waterhouse (On the Shoulders of Giants). (I have absolutely no idea what Kareem is bringing to the table here except his obsolete name but am certain that one way or another he’ll make a – wait for it – slam dunk. No? Not worth waiting for? Sorreeee!)

That’s it for now, munchaladas. Don’t forget to write in and tell yers truly what you’ve sold when you sell it. Cuz TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 1/19/15

TOSHIBA Exif JPEGLatest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
by munchman

  • Ian Hollands (Beaver Falls) is writing the mini-series Apocalypse Slough, “a Sky 1 “adrenaline-fueled witty epic about the end of the world.” (Yer friendly neighborhood munchman fully expects this to turn up on Syfy sometime next year as well. Unless it’s good, in which case Syfy will have no interest whatsoever but maybe Netflix will?)
  • Guillermo del Toro & Travis Beacham & Rene Scheverria  (Star Trek) are co-writing Carnival Row, a potential Amazon Studios series based on Travis’ spec script. (The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that I didn’t give any credits to del Toro. That was deliberate cuz if you talk about him as a writer you soon realize that he can’t. Write, that is. Fortunately, if the pilot for Carnival Row gets shot, he’ll be directing…as sublimely as ever, I hope.)
  • Have I mentioned that Woody Allen, of whom you may have heard a few things, is set to develop his first TV series for Amazon Prime? (It’s what’s called a “blind commitment,” and in this case its totally blind: Nobody, not even the Woodster, has a clue about what he might deliver. Or, for that matter, if he’ll deliver anything. My munchensteinian prediction: It’ll be a series about a middle-aged man in love with a much younger woman and every single line of dialog and joke will be one we’ve already heard in a Woody Allen movie. How do I know this? Well, I’ve seen a few recent Woody Allen movies. Hehehe…

That’s it for now, munchaladas. Don’t forget to write in and tell yers truly what you’ve sold when you sell it. Cuz TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)

Streaming could replace TV viewing, study finds

To which we wild and zany minions of TVWriter™ can only add, “Doh!”

They needed a study to figure out this?

video-streaming-websites read article