BET’s ‘Twenties’ Takes Us on the Journey of an Aspiring TV Writer

Lena Waithe knows how to be the best possible Lena Waithe
Lena Waithe knows how to be the best possible Lena Waithe

Yes, it’s true. Another indie web series has moved upward and onward to the Big Time, this time via BET. Lena Waithe’s series the truth, the whole truth, and – almost (because our memories are fallible and great stories need more drama than we’d like to welcome into our actual lives) – nothing but the truth.

Here’s the cool trailer for Twenties.

And here’s a worthwhile article on the subject. read article

The Latest Fashion in Hollywood Showrunning Deals

The times are a’changin’. In case you’ve been wondering what the currently agentless (because WGA-ATA conflagration!) super writer-producers are doing to keep themselves in the style to which we all wish we were accustomed, here ’tis!

NOTE FROM LB: God, I love this pic. Reminds me those great days of yore!

Showrunners Testing Waters With Multiple TV Overall Deals
by Lesley Goldberg

How much work is too much for a top showrunner? In a Peak TV era overflowing with choice, content creators big and small are leveraging the demand for their services with deals for exclusivity on different platforms.

On Aug. 7, Jeff Davis (Criminal Minds) inked a “broadcast-only” overall deal with the newly independent Fox Entertainment. While the pact was designed to be beneficial to the network — which says it also could sell Davis’ fare to outside platforms — the showrunner is still free to sign another TV overall deal elsewhere. That practice, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, has been growing quietly for the past few years as new platforms have emerged. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Biz Happenings of the Week Ending July 22

TOSHIBA Exif JPEGLatest News About Writers & Other Mostly Living Things That Are Doing Better Than We Are
by munchman

Uh-oh. Last week’s return of yer friendly neighborhood munchman’s formerly adored column, Love & Money, tanked even worse than Katherine Heigl’s new Netflix series will if it ever actually makes it to the air.

We know why nobody wants to see Ms. Heigl’s next project. It’s the same reason nobody wanted to see her previous failures – nobody fucking can stand her onscreen persona.

But this is me, Timothy Tyler Muncher my very, very, very loved self. How in the name of all that’s holy, unholy, and whatever’s in between did last week’s launching get exactly one (1!) recorded view between last Thursday and yesterday? read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Biz Happenings for the Week of July 15th

TOSHIBA Exif JPEGLatest News About Writers & Other Mostly Living Things That Are Doing Better Than We Are
by Munchman

Whoa, first Love & Money since 2015. How time flies when you’re scaling the ladder to sucksess. Mama told me there’d be decades like this, but the Evil Angel of Ambition wouldn’t let yer friendly neighborhood munchero fly toward the light.

Well, wtf, this little muncher is still alive, well, and getting into as much trouble as possible. Now if only that $$$-grasping old gomer who calls himself LB would loosen his hold on the Amex Black Card he pretends he isn’t carrying and pay me now and then, all would be almost right in this world.

So. Onward and upward…and downward too. We shouldn’t go in that last direction because it’s the kind of commentary that attracts lawyers just when you need them least – i.e. most of the time – but munchacockaderio here always had a soft spot for being slapped in the head. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 1/24/15

TOSHIBA Exif JPEGLatest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are=&0=& (Dallas Buyers Club) is writing the pilot for Syfy’s 51st State, a drama series about a future in which “the United States, confronting a prison population stretched to the limit, purchases Greenland and converts it into a frontier prison colony with male and female convicts incarcerated together.” Except, of course, that things don’t work out as planned. (Notice the not-so-subtle satire here, the whole “we’re all living in prison now” thing? Thanks to the harmless outlet that this show provides, we real prisoners won’t have to revolt after all. Whew.) Matt Tarses (The Goldbergs) is writing the pilot for a CBS comedy series called Coverband about “members of a rock band left to scramble after their lead singer dumps them for a solo career.” (LB informs yer sweet munchman that his first paid-for script was for a similarly themed feature film at MGM, but his protagonist was the lead singer. The more things change….) Exciting new unknown David E. Kelley is adapting Mr. Mercedes, a novel by another new unknown named Stephen King into a mini-series detective drama for a company called Sonar Entertainment. (Cuz in this youth-oriented market two of the most successful writers still breathing can’t get broadcast or cable network deals on their own? What gives?)

That’s it for now, munchaladas. Don’t forget to write in and tell yers truly what you’ve sold when you sell it. Cuz TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)