Category: News

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 12/8/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Murray Miller (GIRLS) has a new overall deal with HBO and is co-writing a comedy pilot for them called MR. ROMANCE with Casper Christian (KLOWN). (Congrats to all concerned. We’re thinking this is going to turn out well for everybody, even the audience.)
  • Scott Kosar (THE MACHINIST) is writing a History Channel miniseries to be called THE LOST YEARS. (And guess whose lost years they’ll be? Nope – Jesus, baby. The secret, hidden truth about The Son Of God. Think that one’ll ever get past the true believers and on the air? For that matter, should it?)
  • Steven S. DeKnight (SPARTACUS) is adapting the Italian drama ROMANZO CRIMINALE into a series for Starz about Philadelphia mobs in the ’60s and ’70s. (Which seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with the original, which is set in Rome in the ’70s and ’80s except, you know, Italian mobsters, whoa! Although come to think of it, that’s probably more than enough.)
  • James Shiban (HELL ON WHEELS) is developing a History Channel miniseries about JAMESTOWN, in all its patriotic glory. (Or, hopefully, in all its harsh reality cuz for us that would be way, way cooler. Good luck, Jimmy boy!)
  • Jenji Kohan (ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK) is creating an HBO series about the Salem witch trials. (And, no, we don’t care how it comes out, we’re in love with anybody who has the cajones to call herself Jenji and on top of that do in her parents by daring to spell her last name with a K.)
  • John Singleton (SHAFT) is writing the pilot for a drama series called CLUB LIFE: MIAMI for HBO. (Which will be totally cool cuz he’s being overseen by one of our biggest heroes over here: Russell Simmons. What a great dude!)

An Overview of TV’s 2013 Drama Development

…So that you’ll all know exactly what’s hot and what’s not, what to pitch and what to not pitch, what you’ve been writing that’s a solidly good usage of your time and what…oh, we’re so sorry…not:

platform_developmentDevelopment Season 2013: Fewer Dramas, Bigger (And Overblown) Commitments,
Early Orders, Spinoffs, Adaptations & Remakes
by Nellie Andreeva

Network drama has been on a roll with a string of strong premieres the last two seasons — Revolution, The Following and Arrow last season and The Blacklist, Sleepy Hollow and Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Originals this fall.

But the genre will have to rely heavily on the quality vs. quantity principal if its wants to continue its hot streak as the volume is definitely not there for nprimetime-panic-2ext season. The drama buying got off to a very sluggish start in the summer and never found a higher gear. Drama pitches were down across the board. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 12/6/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Benjamin Brand (BOLLYWOOD HERO) is adapting William Bernhardt’s book, Nemesis: The Final Case Of Eliot Ness, into a miniseries for NBC. (Cuz…Fucking Eliot Fucking Ness, everybody knows him – if they were alive and watching TV back in what, the late ’50s?)
  • David Diamond & David Weissman (THE FAMILY MAN) have sold a drama series concept, THE DOUBLE LIFE OF EMILY REED, to ABC. (Cuz let’s face it, if you’re a TV network d-person with no life of your own, the idea of anybody with two of them sounds positively scintillating, no?)
  • Jonathan Abrams (your guess is as good as ours) has sold a drama called WISDOM to ABC. (Cuz it’s basically a soap about Silicon Valley and the title is what passes for clever irony to people who feel threatened by tech. Trust us on this one.)
  • Daniel Knauf (NBC’s DRACULA) is developing a series based on the 1941 and 2010 feature film(s) THE WOLFMAN. (Cuz…the Fucking Wolfman, dammit. Everybody does know him.)
  • Some dude named Louis C.K. just signed an overall deal with FX to develop and produce new series. (We dunno about you, but we can’t imagine any producer anywhere he could do any idea we’ve ever had or ever will have better than Louis. Time to call our agent…and pray.)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 12/2/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • David Goodman (THE FAMILY GUY) has a new overall deal at 20th Century Fox TV. (And we’re very happy for him – unless David’s the one who came up with the idea of offing Brian, in which case he should immediately be cast down to the innermost circle of hell for fucking with our fannish head.)
  • Chris Gerolmo (MISSISSIPPI BURNING) is developing DOC FORD, a drama based on Randy Wayne White’s book series about the Doc, for CBS. (And we’re really happy for him as well – unless “Chris Gerolmo” is a pseudonym for David Goodman, in which case we’re getting more pissed off by the second, even if it turns out that Brian isn’t really dead and that this was just a ratings and publicity trick)
  • Justin Adler (BETTER OFF TED) is writing the pilot for an NBC version of 30 AND COUNTING, which began its life as a UK series by Chris Little about the lives of former college buds. (Not something we normally care about one way or another, but if we ever learn that David Goodman is involved we’re going to the next NBC stockholders meeting and raise 600 kinds of hell cuz the more we think about it, the more horrible it is if in fact Brian isn’t dead and we’re getting all teary-eyed over nothing.)
  • James McBride’s book Song Yet Sung is about to become an FX series about the underground railroad and the life of Harriet Tubman. No adaptor has been named, so it’s time for all interested writing parties to make their moves. (Except you, David Goodman cuz…Briannnnnn!!!! Oh, damn, how it hurts….)

TV is Still Where the Money Is

by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

…In spite of the Evil Intruder known as the Interwebs.

Sony Pix Logo

Even Sony, known in showbiz for its consistent state of head-up-its-assery, has finally seen the light. read article