TV Writing Deals – Page 39

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

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

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

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.)

The TV development season is in full bloom. TVWriter™ is being inundated with deals.

Now if only a few of them were – sigh – ours…

Paul Lovett & David Elliot (GI JOE) are writing a drama about a ‘young political “hactivist” who is coerced into working for the government following his arrest’ for Fox. (Cuz nothing could possibly go wrong with a premise that involves a guy sitting at a computer monitor all day being developed by guys whose big success has been, you know, action.)
Jenny Bicks (THE BIG C) is writing an NBC sitcom pilot about a mermaid who washes ashore and becomes a bartender. (Cuz NBC development executives are clearly morons who have no idea what high concepts really are.)
Peter Nowalk (GREY’S ANATOMY) is writing a legal thriller called HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER for ABC. (Cuz ABC’s development people do know exactly what the law-abiding audience craves.)
Rob Lieber (ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY) is writing a sitcom pilot called THE GREAT ZUCHINI for FX, about a self-destructive kids’ performer. (Cuz FX knows all about self-destruction?)
Gigi Levangie (the novel The Starter Wife) is co-adapting her new Seven Deadlies into a pilot for MTV. Her co-writers are Stacey Title & Jonathan Penner, who seem to have written (Stacey) and appeared in (Jonathan) a bunch of stuff we’ve never heard of. (Cuz MTV lurves taking chances. Yeah!)

Nick Thiel (WHITE COLLAR) has been moved up to co-showrunner of WHITE COLLAR. That means he can hire, so if you know him, call him. (And don’t forget to say that LB sent you. Back in the Stone Age ’80s Nick worked for Our Beloved Leader as a story editor on the late, lamented THE FALL GUY.)
Jennie Snyder Urman (EMILY OWENS, MD) has sold a gender-bending drama called CROSS to The CW, as well as writing a U.S. version of Venezuelan telenovela JANE THE VIRGIN. (Ah, two concepts that remind us once again of what’s made The CW the Big Success it is. Oh, wait….)
Ooh, wait, lookee here. The very same Ms. Urman is also teaming up with David Rosenthal (GILMORE GIRLS) to write a Fox sitcom pilot to be called SOBER COMPANION. (Wait, does this mean that TV execs now think that sobriety is as funny as drunkenness? Or, more to the point – would that be a positive development or a Thought Too Horrible to Even Consider?)
Barbara Hall (JOAN OF ARCADIA) is writing the pilot CBS’s MADAME SECRETARY drama. (Which isn’t really about Hillary Clinton cuz we know what happens to TV projects about Hillary, don’t we?)
Lauren Graham (the novel Someday, Someday, Maybe) is adapting her book as soft drama pilot for The CW. (Ms. Graham may be known to TVWriter™ visitors as one of the stars of GILMORE GIRLS on The CW’s predecessor, The WB. Congrats on stepping up to real stardom, Lauren, as a TV writer. Yeah!)