Category: News

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/23/14

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

  • Kevin Costello (UP IN THE AIR) is writing a Fox drama pilot about an airline flight crew who pull big heists in various layover cities as a sideline.  (Here’s hoping there’s a bit more to this than the description. Although yer munchero finds it fascinating that the usually ultra-conservative TV nets are into such heavy, Bonnie and Clyde style anti-dis-establishmentarianism. Hey, did I spell that word right? I know I probably used it wrong.)
  • Betsy Thomas (WHITNEY) is the new showrunner of NBC’s BAD JUDGE. (Give her a call! Take her to lunch! Promise a kickback from your salary. Maybe – if she doesn’t call the cops on you – you’ll end up with a gig. Stranger things have happened, right?)
  • David G.B. Brown (THE SCARECROW AND MRS. KING) died September 6th at 67. (No snark or jokes here, just TVWriter™’s condolences to his family and friends. Good writer!
  • Lee Maddux (NIGHT COURT) died September 9th at 84. (No snark here either, although funny man that he was, Mr. Maddux might appreciate a few jokes. If only the munchy dude was funny enough to do him justice. Condolences to Mr. M’s family and friends.

That’s it for now. Write in and tell munchilito what you’ve sold today. TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)

2014 Nicholl Fellowship Finalists Announced

The Motion Picture Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship may not be for TV writing per se, but it’s absolutely the most important contest aspiring screen and television writers can win in terms of future prospects. Which means that these finalists definitely are worth learning about:

academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciencesby the Deadline Team

About half of the finalists for the 2014 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwritingare from the Los Angeles area, but the rest span four states and three continents. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today released its list of 10 screenplays whose writers are on the shortlist for as many as five $35,000 fellowships.

The winners, judged by the Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee, will be announced during a November 13 ceremony and live read at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/21/14

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

  • Kevin Nealon (WEEDS) & Susan Yeagley (PARKS & RECREATION) have sold a to be titled comedy to NBC about “a recently divorced couple still tied to…each other…through their jointly owned business.” (To which munchadillio can say only, “Congrats to one of the coolest couples in Hollywood!” I’d be trying to hook them up with each other personally as well as professionally, but the good news is that I don’t have to. They’re already married – to each other. Lookin’ forward to this show, kids!)
  • Brad Copeland (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) is writing the pilot ABC’s new comedy set to star Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo. (Who aren’t a married couple and about whom I’m not all that excited cuz let’s face it, Chevy’s onstage antics are legend, and not in the most positive way. And Mz D’Angelo? Well, hasn’t she basically been a kind of a cipher in every role she’s ever played? Good luck, Brad!)
  • Angela Kinsey (THE OFFICE) has joined forces with Rachel Spector & Audrey Wauchope (COUGAR TOWN) to create another untitled series, this one a “female buddy comedy” for ABC. (Sorry, gang, but munchero isn’t much interested in this one. Best female buddy comedy of all time has already been on the air for over 60 years – I LOVE LUCY, yessir. What? You thought that show was about Lucy and Ricky? Watch it again – it’s a Lucy-Ethel vehicle all the way. And the only show in the world that’s ever even come close to it is BBC’s miraculous MIRANDA, which only lasted 3 series. Sigh.)
    • Jeff Astrof (GROUND FLOOR) is writing the pilot for our last untitled comedy series of this post, a “restaurant comedy” for CBS based on some guys who own the Meatball Shop restaurants in New York City. (My suggestion is that you simply insert your own snark here cuz when it comes to meatball jokes, hey, everybody knows they write themselves.

That’s it for now. Write in and tell munchilito what you’ve sold today. TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)

Viacom Agrees To Breakthrough Deal To Provide Channels To Sony’s Online Pay TV Service

Another death blow to the trad TV paradigm. How long can the mortally injured giant keep tottering before it falls? (Oh, c’mon, you don’t really hate that metaphor, do you? Do you?) Give a big hello to Internet Pay TV!

sony_logogridby David Lieberman

This is a big advance for Sony’s plan to offer pay TV channels via the Internet by the end of this year, which it announced in January. Viacom’s agreement to offer its 22 channels outside of cable and satellite is its “first-ever agreement to provide its networks for an Internet-based live TV and video on demand service,” it says this morning. In addition to popular services including BET, Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon — all in HD — Sony will be able to offer customers access to Viacom’s TV Everywhere websites and apps as well as its full VOD package. The companies didn’t disclose financial terms, although I suspect Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman will face some questions about this later today when he appears at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference in NYC.

“Viacom always strives to create transformational opportunities that combine consumer value and technological innovation,” Dauman says. “Given our young, tech-savvy audiences, our networks are essential for any new distribution platform, and we’re excited to be among the many programmers that will help power Sony’s new service and advance a new era for television.”

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/16/14

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

  • Mike Lisbe & Nate Reger (HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN) have sold THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY, a comedy in the tradition of FRIENDS, to NBC. (So if you always wanted to write for FRIENDS, it’s time now to dust off your old specs and your kneepads to prostrate yourself before the NBC powers that be. I know that I am cuz it’s about time el munchero sold out, don’tcha think?)
  • John Glenn (EAGLE EYE) is developing an NBC drama series called THE POSSESSION OF MAGGIE GILL about, you know, weird shit involving a teenage girl not unlike the one we all remember so fondly from THE EXORCIST. (Hands in the air now. Who thinks this will go to a shot pilot? Who thinks this will make the schedule? Who thinks it’ll last longer than 6 episodes? If you raised your hand for any of the above, I’ve got a bet to make with you cuz gambling is better, ethically, than selling out, don’tcha know?)
  • Greg Mottola (who may or may not be related to Tommy cuz how many Mottolas do you think there are running around LA?) is adapting Conn & Hal Iggulden‘s comic guidebook THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS for a comedy series at, yet again, NBC. (I’d love to have a snark or two about this project, but since I’ve never heard of anybody involved, nor the source material, all I can do is put my head in my hands and mumble, “Why? Why? Why?” Which means that I’d love to hear from anybody who knows more about this project than yer friendly neighborhood, oh, you know.
  • Ted Gold is the new dude in charge of scripted series programming over at Spike. (And although I don’t know him, I’m going to google up on the guy and then give his office and say I do. A little creative mutual history can go a long way in this town. Who else is up for playing this game?

That’s it for now. Write in and tell munchilito what you’ve sold today. TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)