Category: News

RIAA and BPI Use “Pirated” Code on Their Websites

Glass houses, anybody?

by Ernesto

It turns out that even the most vocal anti-piracy advocates are guilty of infringing the copyrights of others on the Internet. TorrentFreak has discovered that the websites of the music industry groups RIAA and BPI have removed the copyright notices from popular web software, violating the open source licenses these scripts are distributed under.

Copyright is a double-edged sword, and those who sharpen one side often get cut by the other.delete read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 11/11/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Matt Lopez (RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN) is adapting Chelsea Cain’s upcoming book series, ONE KICK, into a drama series for NBC. Once you get past the backstory, this looks to be very much like BATMAN with a hot babe. (Which means we are sooo cool with this that we’re shaking in anticipation.)
  • Laura Gutin (1600 PENN) is developing OLIVIA JONES IS MY GIRLFRIEND, an NBC comedy about a friendship between a girl who’s never had a boyfriend and another girl who’s never had any girl friends. (Yep, we have no idea what that means either, but…1600 PENN, know what we’re saying?)
  • Laura Solon (2005 Edinburgh Fringe Fest award winner, so yay!) is writing a comedy about a nanny who has no problems with the kid she cares for, but, oh, is his dad ever a dick. (No, they didn’t exactly put it that way, but…reading between the lines, know what we’re saying?)
  • Joshua Sternin & Jennifer Ventimilia (THAT ’70s SHOW) are writing an NBC comedy about two guys whose longtime friendship is hanged when one of them becomes a woman. (Based on Jennifer’s own change from Jeffrey Ventimilla, this series is impossible for us to snark about cuz…well, it just seems so damn sincere. Still, we’d like to point out that the official announcement by ABC used the “Jeffrey Ventimilla name. What does that tell us about the net?)
  • Matt Michnovetz (24) has a deal at The CW for THE COVER, an FBI drama that reminds of an aging Sean Penn movie called STATE OF GRACE. (Which means this could be very well done on, say, Showtme or FX or TNT or HBO or Starz. But The CW? That could be cause for just a bit of concern.)

In Case You’re Wondering Why Old Media’s so P.O.ed at Netflix

ted-sarandos

…Here’s the speech that threw down the gauntlet:

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 11/10/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Neal Baer (UNDER THE DOME) is adapting the old pulp magazine series, The Avenger into a series for The CW. (Cuz let’s face it, the title is hot, and the old magazine company – Conde Nast – that owns the rights to it wants to cash in. But if you’re a fan of the pulp version we think you’re going to be greatly surprised by what any CW take on the character will be like. Luckily for us, we’ve never read the old mags, but still…)
  • Dean Widenmann (he wrote a CBS pilot called BACK) is adapting Alexandra Robbins’ nonfiction book, The Secrets Of The Tomb: Skull And Bones, The Ivy League And The Hidden Paths Of Power, into an ABC serial drama called THE ORDER. (And this could be very cool indeed cuz…”Skull and Bones.” Yeah!)
  • Rene Balcer (LAW & ORDER) is developing a Starz drama about the FBI in the ’80s, when porn became the big business it isn’t today. (Cuz people gave a shit about it then, while now amateurs and their own personal sex lives rule. At least that’s how it seems to us since we of course know nothing whatsoever about what’s happening in the sex trade. Nosirree. Absolutely not. Un-uh.)
  • Tina Fey & Robert Carlock (30 ROCK) are writing a straight-to-series comedy about a woman who escapes from a doomsday cult and starts life over again in NYC. (Where, undoubtedly, she discovers a whole new sort of doomsday that might even be worse. At least that’s what we hear NYB is like. After all, we of course know nothing about the Big Apple cuz we hid out on Long Island for the first 18 years of our life.)
  • Moshe Kasher (a stand-up comedian, natch) is also writing and starring in an autobiographical comedy for Showtime. (Cuz, hey, Moshe Kasher! He’s a household name, right! We of course know nothing about the comedy biz or Showtime cuz, as our diatribes here have probably made pretty clear, we never ever ever even watch fucking TV. Um…too far? Did we just cross some kind of line? Let us know. Or not. Actually, preferably not. Thanks! Hope you’ve had a terrific weekend!)

Do You Know This Woman?

cheryl-bloch-wetv
Cheryl Bloch

The woman in question is Cheryl Bloch, and if you’re a writer and you know her you should get in touch with Cheryl immediately cuz she’s the new Senior Vice President in charge of WE TV’s also new scripted division. Which means that she can hire you to create or run or just plain write any number of new series WE will be developing over the next zillion years.

WE TV has been kind of the poor woman’s Lifetime Network for awhile now, with a ton of reality shows intended to make housewives abandon their chores and settle in to see a ton of commercials every hour. Now, though, it’s developing a slate of scripted shows. Heading that effort is Cheryl Bloch who as a consultant put her imprimatur on the network’s first scripted series, THE DIVIDE, co-created by Richard LaGravanese and Tony Goldwyn.

Cheryl has also been a VP at Jennilind Productions and VP of drama development at Fox. So call her, or get your agent to call her. Get at it. Now! read article