Category: News

Film bosses accused of mutilating scripts and pushing out writing talent

This is one for the Ya Can’t Win Dept. UK screenwriters are saying that UK film execs are so aggravating to work with that they’re being pushed into the very medium that so many writers in the U.S. bitch about – television. As another U.S. TV writer who also did a movie or three would say, “case in point:”

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by Dalya Alberge

Three of Britain’s Oscar-nominated screenwriters say that an increasing tendency among film studio bosses and directors to “mutilate” film scripts is forcing top writers to either direct their own work or write for television, where they command greater respect.

Jeffrey Caine, William Nicholson and Steven Knight – whose acclaimed screenplays include those for The Constant Gardener, Gladiator and Dirty Pretty Things respectively – told the Observer that writers were often sacked without warning from the studios and would then discover that their original work has been altered beyond recognition by a production line of writers. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 1/16/15

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Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are=&0=& (another YouTuber making good – all riight!) has a similar Vimeo thing happening, a science fiction drama called PARALLAX about “a young scientist who alone has knowledge of an imminent, cataclysmic meteor strike.” (What makes these two Vimeo projects special? Well, they’re both for Vimeo On Demand, which is the website’s foray into competition with Big Media TV, oh and they’re both being produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, whose careers for many years have been the definition of A list in both TV and film. Anybody out there got a phone number for either Brian or Ron? I’m thinking maybe I should give ’em a call.) Back in the Big Media world, Jason Tracey (ELEMENTARY) has a new overall deal with CBS to keep kicking ass on that show and create new ones. (Try as I may, yer munchero just can’t come up with any decent snark about this guy. Cuz if anybody’s career arc has made him my hero, Jason’s the one. Congrats, dude, let’s get together so I can show you my new ELEMENTARY spec – which I’ll start writing as soon as I find the Final Draft template, don’tcha know?)

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 1/14/14

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Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are=&0=& (HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER) is also developing a comedy for ABC Family. This one’s called KEVIN FROM WORK and is about “a young man…who professes his love to a co-worker, thinking he’ll never see her again [after taking another job, only to discover that] the duo must continue to work together.” (WTF? That’s my munching life story!? Gotta get a gig on that series – so I can claim that my situation was just research. Everybody’ll buy that, right? Right? Uh-oh….) Peter Tolan (RESCUE ME) is writing the pilot for THE STUDIO, a drama about behind the scenes greed and opportunism at a film studio in the early 1990s. (Cuz it’s all cleaned up now? Is that what we’re supposed to believe? How dumb to the development execs think we are? Uh-oh, maybe we’re all better off if we never learn the answer to that one.)

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….)

Amazon Studios’ January 2015 Pilots Announced

amazonstudiosby Team TVWriter™ New Service

Amazon Studios has announced it will debut its first pilot season of 2015 on Thursday, January 15 on Amazon Instant Video in the US, UK and Germany. It’s an almost entirely pro slate, with just a dash of newbyness to keep the punters (if you watch UK TV you know what that means) interested.

Seven drama and comedy pilots will premiere, including hour-long shows “Cocked” from Samuel Baum (“Lie to Me”) and Sam Shaw (“Manhattan”), “Mad Dogs” from Cris Cole (“The Bill”) and Shawn Ryan (“The Shield”), “Man in the High Castle” from Frank Spotnitz (“The X-Files”), and “Point of Honor” from Carlton Cuse (“Lost”) and Randall Wallace (Braveheart).

In addition, pilots for two half hour shows will debut, including “Down Dog” from Robin Schiff (“Are You There, Chelsea?”) and “Salem Rogers” from Will Graham (“Onion News Network”) and newcomer Lindsey Stoddart, along with a documentary series, “The New Yorker Presents,” inspired by non-fiction and fiction material from one of the most acclaimed and longest running publications, The New Yorker. “The New Yorker Presents” is Executive Produced by Oscar and Emmy-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (The Armstrong Lie). read article

What’s Happening in January at the WGAw

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