Category: News

The WGAW Names Sam Simon Winner of the 2014 Valentine Davies Award

by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

sam-simonThe Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) has named The Simpsons co-developer, Emmy-winning television writer, director, producer, and philanthropist Sam Simon as its 2014 Valentine Davies Award honoree in recognition of his humanitarian efforts and community service on behalf of writers. Simon will be feted, along with other honorees, at the WGAW’s 2014 Writers Guild Awards West Coast ceremony to be held on Saturday, February 1, 2014, at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE.

“The work of Sam Simon’s life has entertained and humbled us, in equal measure. And while this Guild has often honored his wit and skill, today we honor his generosity and love – his understanding that we are, in the end, all caretakers of each other. Sam has dedicated himself to the cause of at-risk animals and people who have no other protector. A friend to them, he has become an inspiration to us, his grateful colleagues,” said WGAW President Chris Keyser.

A Writers Guild, West member since 1980, in November Simon also received the WGAW’s Animation Writers Caucus (AWC) 16th Annual Animation Writing Award, a lifetime achievement honor recognizing his contributions to the craft of animation writing. read article

James Schamus To Receive WGA East Evelyn F. Burkey Award

by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

james.schamusRevered by his peers for his ability to tell beautiful and complex stories, James Schamus will be presented with the Evelyn F. Burkey Award for bringing honor and dignity to writers at the 66th Annual Writers Guild Awards New York on Saturday, February 1, 2014.

A member of the Writers Guild of America, East since 1997, Schamus received an Academy Award nomination for “Best Adopted Screenplay” for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and won “Best Screenplay” at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for The Ice Storm. As the co-founder of Focus Films, he championed writers with original voices and projects that tackled thought-provoking subject matter, from Brokeback Mountain and Milk to Lost In Translation and this year’s Dallas Buyer’s Club.

Established in 1978, The Evelyn F. Burkey Award honors those who, like the award’s namesake, have dedicated their professional life to supporting and helping writers. Burkey helped create the Writers Guild of America, East, in 1953 as the union of film, television and radio writers, independent of precursor organizations. She was the WGAE’s executive director until her retirement in 1972. The Burkey Award continues her mission by recognizing a person or an organization “whose contributions have brought honor and dignity to writers.” read article

Study Says Studios “Unprepared For The Shift To ‘Must Experience TV'”

So, dammit, studios, get on the ball already. Jeeze.

(We’re sure that if we knew what “Must Experience TV” was we’d really be feeling passionate about the subject right now.)

by David Lieberman

EYlogoHere’s the most unintentionally creepy forecast in consulting firm EY’s thought-provoking Future Of Television report…. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 12/26/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are=&0=& (COVERT AFFAIRS) is developing a TNT drama series called SIX about “the aftermath of a Category 6 tornado that obliterates the majority of a small Kansas town and unearths years of horrific secrets.” But it’ll undoubtedly leave out the most horrific secret of all: How the hell TNT ever bought this.) Eoghan O’Donnell (TEEN WOLF) is writing the pilot for THE MESSENGERS, a CW science fiction series about people who turn into “angels of the coming Apocalypse.” (Teenage angels, we bet cuz…the CW.) Ligiah Villalobos (she’s a household word in our house) is writing an NBC pilot for LOTERIA, a Spanish-language series about in-fighting in a wealthy Mexican-American family. (We’re thinking that the purpose of this show is to make all non-wealthy Mexican-Americans – and anybody else who watches but isn’t a zillionaire – feel like caca, but what do we know?)

Fired ‘Walking Dead’ Creator Frank Darabont Sues AMC for Profits

It had to happen. TVWriter™ salutes Frank Darabont for daring to go after what was already supposed to be his. (Cuz, see, most people – even writers – don’t have the balls.)

frankdarabont_walking_dead suesamcby Kim Masters, Matthew Belloni

Ousted The Walking Dead creator Frank Darabont has slapped AMC with a bombshell lawsuit alleging that the cable channel breached his contract and deprived him of tens of millions of dollars in profits from the hit series by making a sweetheart deal licensing the show to itself.

The suit, filed Tuesday in New York state court and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, hints that a standoff over Darabont’s profit participation, which has been brewing since February 2011, might in part explain his abrupt dismissal in July of that year, only weeks into production of Walking Dead‘s second season and two days after he had appeared at Comic-Con to promote the show. AMC never explained the firing publicly or, according to the suit, to Darabont himself. read article