Category: News

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/6/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Justin Spitzer (THE OFFICE) is writing an NBC pilot for a sitcom about events at a Detroit auto company. (Detroit? The American car biz? Funny? If Justin can pull off he’ll prove what a genius he is!)
  • Jonathan Nolan (PERSON OF INTEREST) is set to adapt Michael Crichton‘s old film WESTWORLD into a series for HBO. (No Yul Brynner scary robot gunslinger stuff here. We hear that the show will dig into what already is PERSON OF INTEREST territory – the beginning of consciousness for artificial intelligence. One trick pony time? We hope not.)
  • Brian Gallivan (THE McCARTHYS) is writing an unnamed sitcom about a guy who takes a long vacation with his family in New Hampshire…(Eh? What? Sorry, we fell asleep just typing that. Sheesh.)
  • Brandon Schwartz (newbie) has written the pilot for an untitled Fox sitcom. (Although Brandon has written a couple of scripts at Nickelodeon, this is his first official network sale. Kudos, dude!)
  • Chris Black has the gig to redevelop SAGA an ABC drama pilot written by Andrew Miller that the network rejected last year. (These are always tough jobs cuz everybody’s expecting the new writer to “save” a project that didn’t come from that writer’s gut.) Good luck, dood.)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/5/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Kate Gersten (newbie) has made a deal to write an untitled sitcom pilot for Fox. (Kate’s a playwrighting student at Juilliard and the sitcom will be an adaptation of a play she’s written, so this should be good, dontcha know?)
  • Rob Thomas (VERONICA MARS) is developing a contemporary version of Les Miserables for Fox. (Ooh, based on a hit film/play/book, so this should be good…maybe?)
  • Liz Vassey (actress-writer on CSI once upon a time) is writing a sitcom pilot about, um, bowling for NBC. (Ooh, kinda reminds us of big hit THE BIG LEBOWSKY, so this should be awesome…huh?)
  • Matt Dearborn (EVEN STEVENS) & Racelle Rosett (BLOSSOM) are writing a CBS sitcom pilot called RAISED BY WOLVES about a guy whose buddies help him raise his young daughter. (Hey, remember THREE MEN AND A BABY? It was kinda like this, so of course – gonna be huge…yeah?)
  • Nikki Toscano (BATES MOTEL) is writing a “terrorist drama” pilot for CBS about a CIA agent who investigates terrorist training right here at home in the U.S.A. (And if this HOMELAND sound-alike doesn’t make it big, we’ll eat our…um…poison pill. Yeppers, that’s what we’ll do.)
  • Pam Veasey (CSI: NY) is writing the pilot for a Fox series based on Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware mystery series about a psychologist who solves crimes with his partner, a secretly gay LAPD detective. (Gayness! LAPD! Already a best-selling series of books…oh, and produced by the man who brought us the whole darn CSI family. Couldja ask for more? Huh?)

And there ya have it for today. Who says we can’t be positive about the future of TV?

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 8/31/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

Oh Lordy, still more deals. When will it end?

(Um, the correct answer should be, “Never!” But who knows?) Anyway:

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The Point Radio: Why Jane Espenson Is So Proud Of HUSBANDS

Jane Espenson is one of TV’s science fiction writing greats. She’s a big fave around here, which means that we consider any interview with her to be a Must Read.

Or, in this case, a Must Hear.

What? You don’t know Ms. Espenson’s work? Don’t worry. This article will straighten your ignorant self out: read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 8/30/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

Yeppers, more deals are swarming in. Way to go Bigshot Writers! Oh, how we hate envy love you!

  • Andrea Abbate (ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE) has sold a “male LAVERNE & SHIRLEY” to Fox. (The project is described as “semi-autobiographical. We’re wondering which one of the guys is based on Andrea…and why….)
  • Rob McKellen (newb!) has sold ABE his debut short film to MGM, where they’re going to rework it as a full-length feature and help Rob become rich and famous and all-around fabulously successful in the process. (Congrats, Rob dood!)
  • Neil Forsyth (Brit newb “discovered” by Amblin’ Entertainment) is developing an ABC sitcom, EVERY OTHER SATURDAY, about a divorced father trying to get closer to his son. (What does “discovered” mean in this case? Where did this guy come from? How did he do it? If somebody out there knows, tell us so we can write about it. Puh-leez.)
  • Helen Childress (REALITY BITES) is reworking the successful (but, whoa, old) film into a series for NBC. (Where they think it’s new and that our culture is still what it was. Sometimes we, you know, wonder about this medium. Really we do.)
  • Jeff Rake (something called CASHMERE MAFIA?) is adapting the Spanish language series, “Los Misterios De Laura” into a U.S. version for NBC. (Basically, this seems to be an edgy sort of (STOP! OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT) except that this time Mom’s the detective and Sly Stallone is – mercifully – nowhere in sight.)