Category: News

Do Writers Rooms Really Make TV “Better?”

Variety.Com, which as we all know is a totally unbiased source that we can trust with our very beings, brings us this investigative report:

americanhorrorby Debra Birnbaum

The writers’ room has become a staple of American television production. But look to our British friends across the pond, and they’ve got other ideas. Imagine: one writer, penning all the episodes of a show. No writers’ room. No shared concept. Just single vision, single author, executed from start to finish by the creator.

“Every writer would cravenly admit they would want to write their shows themselves,” says Steven Moffat, the famed British scribe with a long list of credits, including “Coupling,” “Doctor Who” and “Sherlock.” read article

WGA, West Announces 2014 Board of Directors Candidates

copyright 2001 National Geographic - & yes, we know it's misleading...but it's also great!
Image copyright 2001 National Geographic – & yes, we know it’s misleading…but it’s also great!

by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

The Writers Guild of America, West’s Nominating Committee has announced the initial list of candidates for the 2014 WGAW Board of Directors election.

There are 17 candidates nominated to run for eight open seats on the WGAW’s Board of Directors as follows: Aaron Fullerton, Cynthia Riddle, Peter Lefcourt, Stan Chervin, Chris Derrick, Michael Oates Palmer (inc.), Chip Johannessen (inc.), Doug Atchison, Peter Murrieta, Marjorie David (inc.), Scott Alexander (inc.), Aaron Mendelsohn, Jonathan Fernandez, Katherine Fugate (inc.), Courtney Ellinger, Shawn Ryan, Shernold Edwards.

In addition to the candidates selected by the Nominating Committee, eligible members may also be nominated by petition. Members seeking nomination for the Board of Directors must obtain 25 member signatures in support of their petitions. The deadline for submitting signed petitions to the WGAW is Wednesday, July 23, 12:00 p.m. (PDT). Members may submit online nomination petitions by visiting the members-only section of the WGAW’s website at: www.wga.org. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 6/22/14

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

  • Kourtney Kang (HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER) has a new overall deal at 20th Century Fox TV, and her first task is to become co-exec of a new comedy series called FRESH OFF THE BOAT. (So if you know Kourtney and figure that you’re fresh enough to work on a show like that – bug the hell out of her about it. After all, a contact you can’t use isn’t really a contact…and who needs friends anyway?)
  • Doug Jung (BANSHEE) is adapting the “Indian reservation-noir” comic book Scalped for WGN America. (So if you know Doug or anything about life on any of the modern-day Lakota reservations in South Dakota, bug the hell out of everyone involved. They’re gonna need ya. No, sorry, not you,LB. Yer muncher’s talking to, heh, younger folk.)
  • Aasif Mandvi (THE DAILY SHOW) is now writing and producing HBO’s new comedy series, THE BRINK, as well as co-starring in it. (So if you’re one of those people who hangs with actors but not writers, but you want to write on a series, this could be a chance to worm your way in. Hey, that’s what Aasif is doing. Look out, creators Roberto Benabib & Kim Benabib, looks to el muncho like Aasif is eyeing your showrunning gig.
  • Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen (FRIENDS) are writing and producing the web series ROBIN BANKS AND THE BANK ROBBERS. (Proving that what goes up must indeed eventually come down. Not that doing a web series is by definition “down,” oh no, munchman would never say that. But…this is supposed to be a comedy, and the title clearly is supposed to be funny. And it ain’t, guys. Sorry, but…blech. Hmm, could the fact that Warner Brothers is one of the prodcos have something to do with the loss of the funny? Whatcha all think?)

Stereotyping? Or “Niche-ing?” How one TV writer got shoved into a box

Thanks as much to history as to contemporary globalization, life and culture in the U.S. and the U.K. have many things in common. Unfortunately, this is one of them:

by Ian Burrell

The lead writer of a BBC television series which gave a break to the Homeland actor David Harewood has claimed that it wrecked her career after she became typecast as a “black writer.”

Avril Russell said she had been unemployed for almost a decade after writing the BBC2 series Babyfather, which was billed as a black male version of Sex And The City. She had previously enjoyed a varied career writing for mainstream TV dramas including The Bill and Silent Witness, and wrote short stories for television. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 6/19/14

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

  • David Hudgins (PARENTHOOD) has a new overall deal at Sony Pictures TV. He’ll do new stuff. (And, knowing his work, even Yer Cynical Old Munchman is confident that it’ll be great. Of course, that doesn’t mean any of us will get to see it, but, hey, this munchy one lives in hope!)
  • Todd Stashwick (an actor on JUSTIFIED) is going legit with a writing gig working alongside Amy Hennig (bigtime video game writer-director) on the next STAR WARS game. (And with Amy’s brilliance and George Lucas no longer in the mix, who knows? It just might be a winner.)
  • Joe Port & Joe Wiseman (THE CRAZY ONES) are taking their box of tools and tricks to CBS for a couple of years, where they intend to write their tushies off. (Wiseman is an alum of LB’s very first television writing class back during LB’s original retirement – the one that didn’t stick – in Santa Fe, NM. And I have it from his very mouth that “Joe W is one of the best comedy writers ever. Here’s hoping that this time around he gets the support – especially the acting – that his and Joe P’s work deserves.” Yeppers, the boss actually said that. Heavy praise.)
  • Mark Fergus & Hawk Otsby (CHILDREN OF MEN) are adapting James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse series of science fiction books into a series for, natch, Syfy. (CHILDREN OF MEN on one hand, Syfy on the other – the TV gods giveth, and then they taketh away. Better cross your fingers, or whatever your preferred begging the gods sign is, on this one.)