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Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Martin Scorses (yeah, that guy) is developing his film, GANGS OF NEW YORK into a series. (No network has been announced yet, but Marty’s working with Miramax, and our recollection is that they usually get things done.)
- Robert Connolly (UNDERGROUND: THE JULIAN ASSANGE STORY) is adapting David Kunst’s nonfiction book, The Man Who Walked Around the World, for HBO. (Yeppers, Connolly’s a feature writer. Cuz the guys at HBO are still starfuckers, and dat’s how it goze.)
- Stephen Gaghan (TRAFFIC) is turning David Maraniss’ book, They Marched Into Sunlight, into a 6 part limited series for FX. (Yeppers, another feature writer, this one with an Oscar. Writing about the Vietnam War. Which only men over 50 seem to care about/remember these days. Wowser.)
- Nicholas Osborne (some producer credits; who cares?) is writing/producing CONQUISTADORS, a limited series based on Kim MacQuarrie’s book Last Days of the Incas, also for FX. (Hmm, FX doesn’t need you to be a star to write for them, just an unknown from another medium. How can we turn that to our advantage…?)
- Speaking of fresh starts, Paramount has decided to get back ilnto the TV biz, according to studio boss Brad Grey. (So get your Paramount-pally agents on that one ASAP.)
- And speaking of FX, they’re expanding into several more channels, including FXX, which will aim at “younger viewers” and maybe even have some original programming (instead of just IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA reruns, which till now seem to have been the kind of thing FX intends for its “younger viewers.”)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Evan Endicott & Josh Stoddard (pretty much newbs) are developing a sitcom called BETAS for Amazon Studios, about a group of nerds on a quest for nerd fame by cracking the ultimate code. (This series is greenlighted, possibly thanks to the participation of Ed Begley Jr. and several other old pros. Congrats to the newbs!)
- Charlie Kaufman (your favorite weird feature writer, right?) is developing an FX sitcom called HOW AND WHY about a genius who is clueless about life. (We’re hoping like crazy that this one gets on the air, not just because it’s Kaufman – although that’s reason enough – but because it, heh, obviously seems to be about us.)
- Bob Boyett & Robert Horn (both of FAMILY MATTERS, FULL HOUSE, etc.) will be writing and running an unnamed and unattached new comedy starring Kelsey Grammer and Martin Lawrence based on their concept that only Grammer, Lawrence, and the money men have heard. (Don’t get all envious. They will, after all, be working with 2 famous, well, madmen, you know?)
- The Guardian U.K. recently pointed out that no woman has written for DOCTOR WHO since 2008. This means that the show is under some pressure to come up with a hot femme writer. And this in turn means that if you’re a woman and are up to the gig now is definitely the time to get your people on it. (Just some friendly insider advice from TVWriter™, aka The House of Weird Networking.)
- Speaking of writers who aren’t writing but should be, a study commissioned by the Writers Guild of America reports that during the 2011-12 season only 30.5% of working TV writers were women and only 15.6% were minorities of either sex. The study also discovered that almost 1/3 of all shows had no writers over 50 years old. (And this was a statistical improvement. For the life of us, we can’t figure out if that’s a good sign or a bad one. Oy…)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Brian Bradley & Steven Cragg (HAPPY ENDINGS, SCRUBS) have made an overall deal with Universal Studios. (Which, as SCRUBS fans, gives us something to smile about.)
- John Glenn (EAGLE EYE feature film) has created FIX IT MEN, a time travel drama for ABC Studios that has no network involvement yet. (But it does have Mark Gordon as producer, which could be even better in terms of it being a successful, money-making show in the future.)
- J. Michael Straczynski is parterning with the Wachowskis on SENSE8, a science fiction drama for Netflix that already has been greenlighted for at least 10 episodes. (Anybody for a pool about how long Joe stays with the project?)
- Dick Wolf, Derek Haas, Michael Brandt, & Matt Olmstead (CHICAGO FIRE) are working on an as yet untitled CF spinoff about the Chicago Police Department. (Wonder which of that team will be the first to “mysteriously disappear” or lost a limb or receive some other kind of gangland-style “correction” after the new show gets rolling.)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Eric Schaeffer (STARVED, I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M STILL SINGLE) has sold his comedy series, ERIC SCHAEFFER: LIFE COACH? to the new My Damn Channel Comedy Network, whatever the hell that is. (We think it’s a web channel. Find out more here.)
- Jeffrey Toobin’s book, The Run of His Life, about the O.J. Simpson trial, has been sold to Fox. No word on whether it’ll be made into a series, a special, or a TV movie. (Whatever it is, we’ll be interested in seeing if anybody watches…cuz it seems to us that there can’t be too many people still alive who remember the Juice. This is old, people!)
- Tommy Wirkola (HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS) has created a half-hour comedy for Showtime based on his Norwegian series, HELLFJORD. (Ah, showbiz life, just one success after another, eh, Tommy? Oh, wait…)
- Melissa Carter (JANE BY DESIGN) is writing a dramedy called HOT PROPERTY, based on a book by Michele, Sabrina and Samantha Kleier, for ABC Family. (The writers of the book are the stars of HGTV’s reality series, SELLING NEW YORK, which of course means that everybody else is dying to be in business with ’em. “They’re stars!” we tells ya. “Stars!”)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Erica Rivinoja (UP ALL NIGHT) has made an overall deal with Sony Pictures Television for the usual writing and developing stuff. (UP ALL NIGHT, you’ll remember was such a huge failure on NBC that the star quit. Doesn’t it warm you heart to know that even today we can still fail up?)
- Ricky Gervais (THE OFFICE, etc.) is bringing back David Brent on his new YouTube channel. (Further proof, if anybody needed it, that web series are the new Skynet, destined to take over the world.)
- Casey Johnson & David Windsor (DON’T TRUST THE B—- IN APARTMENT 23) are now developing projects for ABC Studios. (
Doesn’t it warm your heart to know that even today we can still fail up? Oh, wait–)
- Jane Espenson (we think of her as the Dowager Queen of TV sci-fi) and Zack Estrin (ZERO HOUR) are set as writers-producers on the upcoming ABC project WONDERLAND, a spinoff from ONCE UPON A TIME. (Now there’s a switch. Jane’s actually worked on shows – like ONCE UPON A TIME – that succeeded. Good thing Zack’s here to keep proving the failure rule. God, we love Hollywood!)