Category: TV Writing Deals

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/14/14

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
by munchman

  • Malcolm Gladwell (numerous New Yorker pieces) & Glenn Gordon Caron (MEDIUM) are writing the pilot for the Fox medical drama, THE CURE, about “a young, impulsive, African-American neurologist who takes the law into her own hands in the cause of tackling a deadly disease.” (Here’s hoping the series is better written than the blurb. A genuine munchprize awaits the first reader to name all the problems in that silly partial sentence. For reals. I’ll send ya something. Promise.)
  • Alex Sulkin & Julius Sharpe (DADS) are also writing a Fox pilot. This one’s a comedy called ALL TOGETHER NOW about a group of friends in their late 20s who vow to hang together as real people, sans their mobile electronics. (To which yer munchie one scoffs, “It’ll never work.” And by “it” I mean both the premise and the show. Cuz let’s face it, the only people who want to see a series that craps on our current interweb culture are folks so out of it that they don’t watch TV anyway…and certainly don’t buy the products that the sponsors are trying to sell.)
  • DJ Nash (GROWING UP FISHER) is developing the NBC sitcom THE CATCH, about a single dood who “for the first time in his life…[is]…sharing an apartment with a woman he’s not sleeping with. (What’s that? You caught me yawning at this? Um, erm, oh hell – damn straight you did. Funny how little interest I can muster for, like, the ’80s sensibility. How ’bout y’all?)
  • Speaking of ancient sensibilities, Claudia Lonow (HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE is adapting Bob Morris’s book of the same name about “two half siblings who take care of their father.” (Cuz anybody over 40 is obviously an incontinent idiot no longer capable of running his/her own life. Just ask the development apes who commissioned this out of their needs to avenge themselves on parents who, yer muncho supposes, just didn’t wuv their babies enough.

That’s it for now. Write in and tell munchilito what you’ve sold today. TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/7/14

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
by munchman

  • Chris Long (THE MENTALIST) has a new development deal at Warner Brothers. (And, yes, he’s still helping run THE MENTALIST, so if you know him now’s a good time to, you know, buddy up. Chris’ career is moving steadily upward, and it never hurts to hitch your wagon to a star. In other words, congrats, Chris Dood!)
  • Michelle Morgan (THE GIRL MOST LIKELY) has sold her comedy pilot script, THE BRAIN, to CBS. It’s about “an unintelligent guy who suffers head trauma and turns into a genius.” (Hilarity, of course, ensues. Cuz smart guys aren’t necessarily funny and neither are dumb guys, but formerly dumb guys who become smart guys to the utter astonishment of their dumb friends and family are, well, not funny either but network development peeps often don’t get that.)
  • Andrew Marlowe (CASTLE)’s never seen character, Derrick Storm (the hero of a series of books written by the title character in CASTLE) is overseeing the development of a series about said hero written by said title character. The writer will be Gregory Poirier (NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS). (And Yer Friendly Neighborhood muncher is looking forward to seeing how this baby turns out. Will Castle be a character in Derrick Storm’s series? The writer of Storm’s favorite fictional detective or maybe even that self same fictional detective? I love how this already is messing with my head.)
  • Dana Klein (FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES) is writing the pilot THE BAD STANLEYS, a Fox comedy about two competitive brothers. (okay, I’ve gotta stop here and ask a question. Has anybody out there ever heard of, let alone seen, a series called FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES? Or THE GIRL MOST LIKELY? I gotta tell you that I feel like half these announcements come from another dimension. Which, come to think about it, may explain why I can’t sell anything. I’m stuck in the wrong universe!

    • Write in and tell me what you’ve sold today. TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)

    Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/3/14

    Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
    by munchman

    • Michael Seitzman (INTELLIGENCE) is developing a CBS series called CODE BLACK in which, well, from the P.R. description, it seems that we’ll be seeing and even harder, edgier version of E.R. (Cuz why come up with something new when there’s a whole new generation of TV viewers who haven’t seen what’s old? Which almost sounds logical. No, not creative but…logical.)
    • Lindsey Shockly (TROPHY WIFE) has an overall deal to develop series and work on staff for ABC Studios. (And, why not? She has network TV experience on TROPHY WIFE and HELLO LADIES, and yer munchero here is absolutely sure that the fact that they tanked had nothing to do with Ms. Shockly’s contributions.)
    • Max Borenstein (GODZILLA) is writing the pilot for a TV version of MINORITY REPORT. (Which makes this particular Philip K. Dick fan flash a major kinda smile. Yes, it’s true, this is one deal methinks I can like.)
    • Sarah Watson (PARENTHOOD) is writing the pilot for an untitled CBS medical series about – ooh, you’ll never guess – “a controversial, outrageous, young tech titan who opens his own hospital with a cutting-edge approach to medicine.” Gotta admit – I’d rather watch that than another version of E.R. But it’s hard to imagine CBS doing anything with “cutting-edge” tech.)

    Write in and tell me what you’ve sold today. TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)

    Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 9/1/14

    Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
    by munchman

    • Jordan Belfort (the “inspiration” for THE WOLF OF WALL STREET) is developing a series described as “a MAN MEN-style TV show about the excess of WALL STREET in the 1980s for Brett Ratner’s company. (Cuz if there’s one thing TV needs in the 21st Century teens it’s a show projecting the values of an infamous drug consumer and convicted con artist. Nice to have such a bright light to help us get through these difficult times, eh?)
    • Justin Halpern & Patrick Schumacker (SURVIVING JACK) have sold a comedy based on a memoir by Col. Chris Hadfield, the well-known astronaut/internet video sensation. (Yeppers, it’s all about how much harder normal life on the ground is than being an outer space celeb. My enthusiasm is, um, well, how’s “nil” sound?)
    • Amy Holden Jones (BLACK BOX) is writing the drama pilot 10 BEACON HILL for ABC, described as “a medical procedural…about a brilliant team of doctors who take on the most difficult cases. (How does this differ from HOUSE? Dig it – the head of the team is an ultra-caring medical genius instead of a dick. Hmm, munchikins thinks that could be a welcome change.)
    • Andy Stern (newbie?>) is writing a pilot for ABC about a female police psychologist who used to be a “real” cop herself. (And if that makes you wonder why your slightly more original ideas – whatever they are – keep getting turned down to the networks, keep this in mind: The producer of this series, and, I’m thinking, its intended star, is Ellen Pompeo, the star of GREY’S ANATOMY. Why aren’t I best buds with somebody who can get such a great vanity deal?)

    Write in and tell me what you’ve sold today. TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)

    Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 8/28/14

    Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
    by munchman

    • Dana Goodman & Julia Wolov (FAKING IT) are developing an untitled comedy project for MTV. (According to the P.R., said comedy project is “autobiographical.” The same press release also emphasizes how young Dana and Julia are. So of course the munchie one is just all a’tingle at the prospect of learning all about their undoubtedly riveting and meaningful lives.)
    • Pamela Gray (CONVICTION) is adapting Liane Moriarty‘s novel The Husband’s Secret for CBS. (Personally, I’d rather not have this dangerous precedent of nosing around the secrets of married men hanging over my head as I draw closer to – OMG! – potential matrimony meself.)
    • Noah Oppenheim (THE MAZE RUNNER) & Chris Bremner (newbie) are developing an Amazon Studio series called PROMISED LAND, about Moses doing his thing while getting his fellow runaway slaves hopelessly lost in the desert. (Yeppers, I admit it. I’m praying for this to be a comedy cuz…how do you take Moses seriously? And the Golden Calf business? C’mon! That’s Louis C.K. material for sure.)
    • Speaking of OMG!, Barry Eisler‘s book series, Rain, is being developed into a TV series for international production, produced by and, coincidentally starring some dude name of Keanu Reeves. (El munchero is tempted to riff on what this tells us about the state of po’ l’il Keanu’s film career, but instead I’d like to point out that no writer has yet been named for the show. So this is your chance to get in on the ground floor of the plummetting Keanu Reeves’ elevator and make yourself a few $$$. Call yer agent and get this great gig!)

    Write in and tell me what you’ve sold today. TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)