Category: News

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 10/9/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Reed Agnew & Eli Jorne (WILFRED) are writing MAN/CHILD, a comedy about two single dads trying to balance their lives, for Fox. (It’s a Damon Wayans, Jr. vehicle, so who knows? It might turn out really good.
  • Pending a last-minute disaster in the deal, Carlton Cuse (BATES MOTEL) will be adapting the French zombie drama, THE RETURNED for A&E. (Whoa, two in a row that we find ourselves looking forward to. We must be in way too good a mood.)
  • Blake McCormick (COUGAR TOWN) is also writing the pilot for CHASING SKIPS, an “adventure comedy,” for Fox. Oops, there goes our good mood. Another series about bounty hunters? We can hardly wait…to stop yawning.)
  • Don Todd (SAMANTHA WHO?) writing the pilot for the ABC drama, BEVERLY KILLS, about – wait for it – a hit woman who tries to clean up the corruption et al in Beverly Hills. (And, yeppers, we find this a very attractive idea cuz we aint’ never seen an unattractive hit woman on TV yet. Starting to feel a little better about TV life again.)
  • Chris Romano (BLUE MOUNTAIN STATE) has sold TORCHED, a comedy project, to Fox. (With Johnny Depp as one of the producers. We love Depp’s overall creative sensibility although not his recent specific choices. But, now that we’re being all positive again, we’re allowing ourselves to have high hopes for this one.)
  • Matthew Sand (NINJA ASSASSIN) is writing the pilot for CLANDESTINE, a female CIA agent series,  for ABC. (The good news is female CIA agent series, a concept right up there with hit women. The bad news is that does a network that has MARVEL’S AGENTS OF SHIELD have room for another kickass lady spy. You’re watching Ming Na on SHIELD, right? Of course you are.)
  • Rina Mimoun (DAWSON’S CREEK) is writing the ABC pilot, SISTERLAND, based on Curtis Sittenfeld‘s novel about twin sister with psychic powers. (Hey, it’s better than twin sister bounty hunters, no? Way better. Look, Ma, we’re beaming!)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 10/8/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Scott Prendergast (WILFRED) is writing a comedy about two brothers who’ve grown up hating each other for ABC. (Where, from what we hear, hating on others is quite well understood. Ooh…did we really say that?)
  • Jordan Young & Elijah Aron (IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA) are writing a comedy pilot for Fox about a romantic guy trying to rise to the challenge after falling in love with a “super cynical woman.” (Oh, hey, this one’s said to be autobiographical. We’ll root for it cuz we kinda know Jordan and Elijah, and we’re major fans of  fun TMI.)
  • Tim McAuliffe (BAD TEACHER) is also writing a Fox comedy pilot. And this one’s based on his experiences with three roommates. (One of whom is – gasp! – a babe. Yes, kids, that’s what passes for “interesting” in most writers’ lives.)
  • Albert Kim (NIKITA) writing an untitled drama about a woman imprisoned for – gasp! – a double murder she didn’t commit who earns her law degree while behind bars, proves herself innocent, and joins a high-powered law firm “that she believes is at the center of the conspiracy that framed her.” And that’s just backstory! (No word on how she gets sprung without being able to pinpoint the conspirators, or how she gets a license to practice or…so maybe there’re be something to watch after all.)

  • David Goyer (BATMAN et al) & Daniel Cerone (THE MENTALIST) are writing the pilot for NBC’s CONSTANTINE, another DC Comics hero joining the herd that’s currently invading TV. (The good news, as far as we’re concerned, is that the comic book CONSTANTINE is, well, one of our personal faves. So here’s hoping…)

  • Wendy & Lizzie Molyneux (BOB’S BURGERS) are writing WORKS WITH JERKS, a comedy pilot for ABC. (And we admit it. With a title like that, we’ll definitely watch cuz who knows, maybe we’ll see some of our friends?)

Motion Picture Academy Announces 2013 Nicholl Fellowships

Nicholl-director-greg-beal
Nicholl Award Director Greg Beal – cuz it’s always good to personalize these things

by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

Ooh, a press release. And from the Motion Picture Academy!

It doesn’t get much better than this. Especially when the release is about a group of people very near and dear to TVWriter™’s heart: The finalists in the 2013 Nicholl Award Competition.

Take it away, MPAS: read article

Nielsen TV ratings to include digital devices in 2014

Finally!

Nielsen Ratings_thumbby Cyrus Farivar

Nielsen, the premier American television ratings agency, will finally enter the modern age when it begins to count people watching TV on smartphones and tablets starting next fall.

The agency uses a special set-top box that plugs into the televisions of its 10,000 volunteers nationwide and monitors what shows Americans are watching. (The volunteers are called Nielsen families.) However, until September 2014, Nielsen’s count hasn’t included anything watched in real-time on a digital device. (In other words, Hulu fans, you don’t count). read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/23/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

‘Tis the season for deals, deals, everywhere. But not a drop for…alack!…the poor minions slaving at TVWriter™:

  • Ali Rushfield (PARKS & RECREATION) is writing the ABC pilot about a middle-aged woman who finally starts to grow up when she moves in with a couple of 21-year-olds. (Oh well, maybe that idea sounds funny to 21 year old ABC D-girls?)
  • Kristin Newman (THE NEIGHBORS) is also doing an ABC comedy pilot. This one’s called WOMEN & GIRLS and is about a middle-aged woman who moves in with her 20-something half sister. (Quick, somebody sell this one-note network another variation of the theme so we can all collect on the trifecta!)
  • Jordon Nardino (SMASH) is also developing an ABC project, this one a drama called PRINCESS – and, thankfully, not about different generations of women moving in together. Nosirree, instead it’s about a contemporary version of Princess Di. (Oh well, look at the bright side. At least we all know how it’s going to end. After all, nobody watches TV to be surprised, right?)
  • Michael Alaimo (MAJOR CRIMES) has sold a spec pilot called SPEC (how coincidental is that) to NBC. It’s a science fictiony drama based on something guru Deepak Chopra once said. (Which was along the lines that the universe is really a speck that can fit under a person’s fingernail. Get it? “Speck” got turned into “spec,” maybe because the execs were worried that nobody would know what to do with the extra K? Who says development isn’t stranger than the shows it develops?)
  • Casey Wilson & June Diane Raphael (HAPPY ENDINGS, BRIDE WARS) are writing DINKS, another comedy for ABC. (We could swear that we reported on another show with the exact same name and premise – “Double Income No Kids” a few months ago. Guess ABC wasn’t reading this column…then.)