Category: TV Writing Deals

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 1/8/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  •  Ben Wexler (COMMUNITY) is writing the pilot for BOB’S NEW HEART SHOW, a medical comedy at Fox. (Produced by Conan O’Brian and paying tribute to Bob Newhart, who isn’t connected to the show in any way.)
  • Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot, a book by none other than Bill O’Reilly (well, maybe there was or will be another writer but no one’s coming out with the names), is being turned into a Ridley Scott directed TV movie on the National Geographic Channel. (We’re guessing this deal wasn’t made because of O’Reilly’s writing, but who knows?)
  • Megan Ganze (COMMUNITY) has looked into the future and officially left the show that scares NBC so much that the network is afraid to schedule it and taken a writing gig on MODERN FAMILY. (And she announced it on Reddit, proving that she’s not only richer than we are but cooler as well.)
  • William Monahan (Oscar winner for THE DEPARTED), is writing the pilot for Starz’ drama series CRIME, described in the press release as “a study of criminal enterprises and scandal across 1960s Britain. (He’s adapting a screenplay by Vanessa Sadler and says “It’s very, very funny.” We aren’t sure if he’s talking about her version or his there, but we’ll see because Starz always shoots and airs its series pilots – mainly because, according to their Big Boss, Chris Albrecht,  they can’t afford not to.)
  • Ryan Murphy (GLEE, AMERICAN HORROR STORY) is adapting Larry Kramer’s play, THE NORMAL HEART into a TV movie for HBO. (It’s about a paraplegic physician in the ’80s working with AIDS patients, so we now one thing for sure: Watching this ain’t a’gonna make us feel good.)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 12/31/12

This Year’s Last News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
  • Bryan Singer (HOUSE, X-MEN) is developing yet another version of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, this one for CBS TV Studios. (Not to be confused with CBS Network because, who knows, Leslie Moonves might turn it down and ya gotta keep your options open, right?)
  • Kristen Schall (THE DAILY SHOW), Garry Trudeau (DOONESBURY comic strip), and the team of Kevin Sussman & John Ross Bowie (THE BIG BANG THEORY) are among the writers working on pilots for Amazon Studios. (Not to be confused with all the new writers Amazon originally reached out to because newbies might not be, you know, predictable enough, right?)
  • Paul Attanasio (HOUSE, DONNIE BRASCO) has written the pilot for Showtime’s THE VATICAN, a thriller cashing in on THE DAVINCI CODE which will be directed by Ridley Scott. (Because, God knows, TV isn’t exactly embarrassed by jumping on a bandwagon, no matter how too little, too late the TV effort may be.
  • A writer to be named shortly will be writing a pilot for a CW series about a medieval noblewoman who enlist Robin Hood’s aid in rescuing her serf boyfriend from the Normans. (Because the Gerards and the Roberts and the Jonathans et al aren’t nearly as exciting to teens – OK, just think about that awhile, c’mon.)
  • Speaking of new writers, Grant Dekernion (former writers’ assistant on EASTBOUND & DOWN) has written the pilot for CHOSEN, an animated comedy about a rapper who wants to redeem himself while also dominating the world. (Yay! Not only do we finally get to report on a new writer getting a chance, it turns out that his series idea is actually realistic – well, except maybe for that “redeem himself” part. We’ll see.)

Ah, what better way to close out the year than with a report about writers who have made/are making it? They were once beginners also, so never forget: YOU CAN DO IT TOO!

Happy New Year from TVWriter™!

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 12/24/12

Latest News About Writers Doing Better Than We Are

  • Gary Anthony Williams (WEEDS) & Sindy McKay (various animated TV shows) are writing THE FOSTERS, a comedy about foster children, for NBC. (No, this isn’t the same project that Jennifer Lopez is producing at ABC Family. But what’s a little confusion between friends?)
  • Whit Brayton & Zack Rice (Sorry but we haven’t been able to learn much about them) are writing the USA pilot ZORRO, set in modern day L.A. (Yes, this isn’t your grandfather’s Zorro, but what did we say about confusion?)
  • Michelle McGrath (another writer we can’t find out anything about, oy!) has written the pilot for GALLERINA, E!’s series about a young woman trying to make a name for herself in the art world. (Does this sound as totally boring to you guys as it does to us? Now we really want to find out more about the writer and how she got this thing going.)
  • Lydia Diamond is adapting her play STICK FLY into a drama about prejudice, hypocrisy, and adultery for HBO. (Which sounds incredibly interesting to us…except for the prejudice, hypocrisy and adultery stuff cuz we’ve definitely seen, felt, and maybe even eaten that stuff before.)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 12/22/12

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • John Leguizamo (Mr. Stand-Up, sorta) & Chris Sheridan (THE FAMILY GUY) are writing the pilot for an untitled ABC comedy based on Leguizamo’s life as a Bronx Latino now living on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. (Because Leguizamo’s last pilot script got shitcanned, but ABC and he still have this deal, so…)
  • Rene Balcer (LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT) is writing DARKNET, a kind of X-FILES meets the MATRIX thing as a pilot for USA. (Because USA, Rene, and we all want to see if the dood can deliver without Dick Wolf on his back. We’re rootin’ for ya, Rene.)
  • Oren Moverman & Anthony Swofford (THE MESSENGER and JARHEAD, respectively) are developing LAUGHS UNLIMITED, a drama about U.S. servicemen who return from duty in the MIddle East with PTSD, for HBO. (Because human time bombs are dramatic gold…and don’t think for one minute that the servicemen won’t be portrayed just that way. Yes, we’ll be happy to put our money where our mouth is.)
  • Tyler Perry (we figure you know what he’s done) is developing 2 shows for OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network he financially bailed out just a couple of months ago. THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS is a drama, and LOVE THY NEIGHBOR is a comedy. (Because if there’s anything Tyler knows about it’s having and not having and loving too. What? You don’t believe us? Hey, just ask him.)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 12/20/12

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Bruce Eric Kaplan (SIX FEET UNDER) is writing the HBO pilot PEOPLE IN NEW JERSEY, a sitcom about an adult brother and sister who ponder life’s questions as they try to get through the day. (Because life’s questions are so funny, as we all know.)
  • Matt Wolpert & Ben Nedivi (ENTOURAGE) are writing an unnamed sitcom based on the life of Justin Bieber for ABC. (Because that really is funny, no? No? Oh, right: NO!)
  • Chris Mundy (CRIMINAL MINDS) is showrunning LOW WINTER SUN, a story about cops, criminals, corruption, murder, revenge, and any other bad shit you can come up with, for AMC. The series is based on a Brit miniseries of the same name. (Because ugliness always gets good ratings, as does anything adapted from the Brits…except when it doesn’t.)
  • Michael Lannan (REMEMBER ME) has written the pilot for HBO’s untitled comedy about 3 gay friends living in San Francisco. (Because somebody at HBO forgot that while 3 gay friends living in, say, a hard-boiled city like Chicago might be funny, 3 gay friends in San Francisco not only won’t be funny, they won’t even be noticed.)
  • Adam F. Goldberg (BREAKING IN) is writing the pilot for HOW THE F AM I NORMAL for ABC, a comedy inspired by Goldberg’s childhood. (Because everybody’s childhood is fascinating if its dysfunctional enough, right?)

Sigh…