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Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Benjamin Brand (BOLLYWOOD HERO) is adapting William Bernhardt’s book, Nemesis: The Final Case Of Eliot Ness, into a miniseries for NBC. (Cuz…Fucking Eliot Fucking Ness, everybody knows him – if they were alive and watching TV back in what, the late ’50s?)
- David Diamond & David Weissman (THE FAMILY MAN) have sold a drama series concept, THE DOUBLE LIFE OF EMILY REED, to ABC. (Cuz let’s face it, if you’re a TV network d-person with no life of your own, the idea of anybody with two of them sounds positively scintillating, no?)
- Jonathan Abrams (your guess is as good as ours) has sold a drama called WISDOM to ABC. (Cuz it’s basically a soap about Silicon Valley and the title is what passes for clever irony to people who feel threatened by tech. Trust us on this one.)
- Daniel Knauf (NBC’s DRACULA) is developing a series based on the 1941 and 2010 feature film(s) THE WOLFMAN. (Cuz…the Fucking Wolfman, dammit. Everybody does know him.)
- Some dude named Louis C.K. just signed an overall deal with FX to develop and produce new series. (We dunno about you, but we can’t imagine any producer anywhere he could do any idea we’ve ever had or ever will have better than Louis. Time to call our agent…and pray.)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- David Goodman (THE FAMILY GUY) has a new overall deal at 20th Century Fox TV. (And we’re very happy for him – unless David’s the one who came up with the idea of offing Brian, in which case he should immediately be cast down to the innermost circle of hell for fucking with our fannish head.)
- Chris Gerolmo (MISSISSIPPI BURNING) is developing DOC FORD, a drama based on Randy Wayne White’s book series about the Doc, for CBS. (And we’re really happy for him as well – unless “Chris Gerolmo” is a pseudonym for David Goodman, in which case we’re getting more pissed off by the second, even if it turns out that Brian isn’t really dead and that this was just a ratings and publicity trick)
- Justin Adler (BETTER OFF TED) is writing the pilot for an NBC version of 30 AND COUNTING, which began its life as a UK series by Chris Little about the lives of former college buds. (Not something we normally care about one way or another, but if we ever learn that David Goodman is involved we’re going to the next NBC stockholders meeting and raise 600 kinds of hell cuz the more we think about it, the more horrible it is if in fact Brian isn’t dead and we’re getting all teary-eyed over nothing.)
- James McBride’s book Song Yet Sung is about to become an FX series about the underground railroad and the life of Harriet Tubman. No adaptor has been named, so it’s time for all interested writing parties to make their moves. (Except you, David Goodman cuz…Briannnnnn!!!! Oh, damn, how it hurts….)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Colin Wilson’s ancient novel, The Space Vampires is being adapted into a TV series pilot to be called LIFEFORCE as soon as Ringleader Studios finds a writer. (So get them on the horn ASAP and let ’em know how great it would be if
we whoops, you could get the gig.)
- Barbie Kligman (PRIVATE PRACTICE) is the new showrunner of ABC’s upcoming adaptation of the Australian crime drama SECRETS & LIES, so she’s somebody you should get in touch with pretty damn soon too. (We love the title of this series and also just happen to have complete faith in all women named Barbie – cuz…Barbie, you know? – so we figure this could be a long and successful staff gig for all those who get it.)
- New network WGN America is putting together THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (about you know what) as a ten part series. Bruce Cohen (SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK) is producing. Why not pick your favorite commandment and give him a call? (And don’t forget to tell him TVWriter™ sent you cuz…cuz…waitaminnit, we’ll figure out a reason eventually….)
- Chris Fedak (CHUCK) is developing THE WOODS, a haunted house drama, for Syfy. (Haunted? Like with ghosts? But where are the zombies? And the vampires? Ya gotta have zombies and vampires cuz they’re hotter n’ even Satan His Shiny Self now, no?)
- Angela Ruhinda (interweb hero!) has sold her spec interracial love story pilot, IMAN & ANDY to ABC. (Well, actually, Whoopi Goldberg and Ben Silverman did the selling, but they aren’t writers so fuck ’em. Good luck, Angela! You really are an interweb hero to us.)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Michael Chiklis (yeppers, the actor guy) is looking for a co-writer to help him adapt the comic book he co-created, Pantheon for TV. If you’re into ancient Greek gods battling for the future of earth, have your people give Michael’s people a call. (Word to the wise: It’ll help considerably if you happen to be a current or recent TV showrunner that all the networks are falling over themselves to do business with cuz the PANTHEON TV series really, really, really wants to get on the air.)
- Walter Mosley (yeppers, the hard-boiled novel guy) is co-writing a pilot based on his series of novels featuring Socrates Fortlow with Patrick Charles (BONES). This one’s for HBO and will star Laurence Fishburne as Fortlow. (Hmm, we’re thinking that maybe with Patrick on board we’ll finally get to see a Mosley story that seems at least half as interesting as its P.R. Cool.)
- Samuel Baum (LIE TO ME) is rewriting HBO’s Bernie Madoff movie. (We always wonder about the reason for rewrites so we’re putting this out there for original writer John Burnham Schwartz: Why’d they shitcan you, dude? TVWriter™ will be mighty happy to tell your side of the story so let us know, okay?)
- Bryan Shukoff & Kevin Chesley (THE HARD TIMES OF R.J. BERGER) have written the pilot for NBC’s TWO TO GO, a comedy about single guys and how they deal with their friends’ kids. (Cuz the Millennial audience really gives a crap about people with kids, don’tcha know?)
- Shonda Rimes (GREY’S ANATOMY) has a deal to write a memoir about her early days as a writer and, we assume, human being for Simon & Schuster. (To which we can only add a very non-snarky, “Congratulations, Shonda. And, listen, we know how busy you are with a zillion projects and your life, so if you need a ghost writer just email TVWriter™ and ask for munchman, okay? Aw, c’mon, gang, you can’t blame us for trying…can you?)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Billy Ray (CAPTAIN PHILLIPS) is adapting The Last Tycoon, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s
highly touted famed novel about showbiz back in the day, into a series for HBO. (Now, we loves us our Billy Ray – wotta fine writer – but a hoary old unfinished novel they kept trying to get us to read in college lit? Sorry, but this concept definitely falls under the category of – who the fuck cares?)
- Liz W. Garcia & Joshua Harto (HOMELAND) are writing the pilot for an untitled CW series about an undercover FBI agent (young, female, and of course beautiful) who discovers a terrorist cell “hiding in plain sight.” (Hmm, guess it’s not a ripoff when you hire writers to recycle their previous hit. But it sure as hell is another example of a concept that fills us with that old feeling, AKA – who the fuck cares?)
- Speaking of recycling, Meredith Stiehm (THE BRIDGE), is leaving THE BRIDGE to take over as showrunner of HOMELAND, which she left a few years ago so she could, you know, create and run THE BRIDGE. (We’re guessing Showtime gave her an offer she couldn’t refuse and amazed to find a writer smart enough to not have burned her bridge behind her when she said good-bye. Here’s hoping she can return HOMELAND to its former grandeur so that when we watch we can stop thinking – all together now – who the fuck cares?)
- J.R. Orci (THE BLACKLIST) has a new overall deal with Sony TV. (And we’re confident that even though he’s the brother of half of what we here at TVWriter™ affectionately think of as The Absolutely Worst TV Writing Team to Ever Make us “Say Who the Fuck Cares?” we wish him tons of luck cuz…not burning bridges might be a good idea even for us, you know?)
- Tip to every writer reading this who knows or has worked with Joan Harrison at CBS, TLC, The Travel Channel, or the Gersh Agency: She’s now the Senior Veep of Scripted Programming & Development at Asylum Entertainment. So give her a call. Wine her and dine her. (And, please, pitch something better than everything we’ve written about above.)