Category: Resources

40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.

JOHN OSTRANDER: SEQUELS AND PREQUELS AND REMAKES, OH MY!

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by John Ostrander

Fox Movies has announced the possibility of re-making the musicalWest Side Story because Steven Spielberg has evidently expressed an interest in doing so. A part of me, a large part of me, wonders if that’s a good idea. The original won ten Oscars and is considered a movie classic. So – why? Why do a remake? It might be different but will it be better? How likely is that?

It puts me in mind of Gus Van Sant’s shot by shot re-make of Psycho. Why did he bother other than as an artistic exercise? Why did the studio okay it? One of the justifications I heard is the younger generation won’t go to the original because it’s in black and white. Seriously? They can’t be that shallow.

At one point there was talk of doing a re-make of Casablanca as a film. That was fortuitously abandoned. There was a TV prequel to it in 1983 that lasted about a season. There was also a TV remake of Going My Way which starred Gene Kelly in the Bing Crosby role and Leo G. Carroll in the Barry Fitzgerald part. This one actually had a large impact on me; I was in the 8th grade at that point and it made me want to be a priest. My “vocation” lasted only a little longer than the series. But the TV series was my first experience with the material and so the TV series was always my “real” Going My Way. read article

Ken Levine: In Defense of “Jokes”

Another brilliant mess o’observations from M*A*S*H’s Ken Levine:

big_bang_theory_season2_screen01by Ken Levine

…There are several definitions for jokes.  Here’s one:  A joke is something spoken, written, or done with humorous intention.  

In some cases it has a punchline, or just something you didn’t expect, which amuses you.

Jokes have become uncool, passé, something to sneer at and scorn. Writers who resort to jokes are hacks or old or worse – old hacks.  A commenter yesterday who’s a writer on a sitcom said his showrunner threw out anything that was too “jokey.”  And I will grant you there are many bad jokes, lame jokes, racist jokes, old jokes, formula jokes, juvenile jokes, and blonde jokes. read article

TVWriter University Update

answersnextexitsign

Well, it had to happen sometime. We have a sudden cancellation in the upcoming Master Class given by LB his very special self, and that means there’s one surprise opening as of the April 10th starting date.

LB’s Master Class is for pro or pro-level writers only. People you’ve heard of have taken it, for crying out loud, wanting to get Larry’s feedback on various assigned projects before turning in their first drafts. read article

Peggy Bechko: Tomorrow May Be Hell

neil-gaiman-on-hell

by Peggy Bechko

“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.”

Been there, done that? read article

Mass Incarceration for, um, Writers. Sure, why not?

TVWriter™ just got the notice of the following conference. We have no idea if this is open to the whole universe or WGAW members only, but, hey, if the producer of the HANGOVER series of films can’t enlighten us on mass imprisonment and slavery, then who the hell can?

mass incarnerationSend ’em an email. Say TVWriter™ sent you.

(No, sorry, we’re clueless as to what effect that kind of email will have.)