Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 12/19/12

Latest News About Writers Doing Better Than We Are

  • Double Down: Game Change 2012, by Mark Halperin & John Heilemann has been bought by HBO. Book is a sequel to the original Game Change which was made into an HBO film starring Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin. (Does this mean Sarah will be back? We mean, that Julianne will be back? ‘Cuz for reasons having nothing to do with artistic merit that would be awesome!)
  • Ethan Sandler & Adrian Wenner (EPITAPH, THE PRINCESS DIARIES) are writing the AMC sitcom pilot WE HATE PAUL REVERE, set in colonial Boston and about 2 brothers who aren’t big Paul Revere fans. (Does this mean Paul Revere & The Raiders, our parents’ favorite ancient rock band, will be coming to TV? ‘Cuz for reasons having nothing to do with our hard-on for Sarah Palin, that would be awesome!)
  • Unknown Writer (this could be your/our big chance) will soon be writing the ABC Family pilot RECOVERY ROAD, based on Blake Nelson‘s novel of the same name about a teenage girl who finds love at rehab. (Does this mean that idiotic relationships are coming to TV? ‘Cuz that could justify a lot of existences, including our own!)
  • Stacey Jay is writing JULIET IMMORTAL, an adaptation of her book by the same name describged by the H’wood Reporter as “a paranormal love story revolving around Romeo and Juliet, who meet again…as enemies.” (Yes! Idiotic relationships are indeed in, hip, and trendy now on the small screen. Our miserable lives here at TVWriter™ are now totally justified!)

Film Success Based On – Get Ready – The Pitch!

Oy! As if there wasn’t enough pressure to perform in the room. Now along comes Deadline.Com with this terrifying news: (Unless you’re a pitching expert, in which case go ahead and laugh)

gotta be a pitching fool

Movie Profits Driven By Stories And Directors, Not Stars, Academics Conclude – by David Lieberman read article

Writers, Want to be Discovered? Try This!

Somebody went to a lot of work…and is going to make a big score out of this:

henry_walton_indiana_jones_package_a_l

Mystery: University of Chicago Sent Elaborate Package for ‘Indiana Jones’ – by Seth Abramovitch (H’WoodReporter.Com)

Officials at the admissions department of the University of Chicago are baffled and amazed at a package that landed in their mailroom on Tuesday, addressed to “Henry Walton Jones, Jr.” read article

Why Do Audiences Hate Scripted TV?

This really is something to worry about:

ncis with exwife

Ever wonder how to plagiarize without being called on it? The technique goes something like this: read article

LB: Screener Report – 1

Megan-Fox,-Leslie-Mann,-This-Is-40
THIS IS 40 makes everything boring – even girls squeezing other girls breasts

Every year in December the major studios send out DVDs of the films they’re pushing for Oscars, Directors Guild, and Writers Guild of America awards. So far this year I’ve received somewhere between 15 and 20 of them. Why haven’t I counted before writing this? That would take more effort than I can expend right now. Mainly because I’m already exhausted from the task of turning on my DVD player, inserting the disks, and getting them to play properly.

Last night, for example, it took me an hour and a half to just get my 2 year old Magnavox DVD player to power up. That’s 5 minutes of sitting on the living room couch and pointing the remote at it and swearing when nothing happened, 10 minutes of standing at the machine and pushing the standby/on switch and swearing nothing happened, another 5 minutes of unplugging and replugging and jiggling and knocking (pronounced “Ka-nocking” the way my father used to say it), 69 minutes of scouring the interwebs looking for the right user manual and other online advice, and 1 last glorious minute of “rebooting” (yes, I too thought that was only a computer thing) the %&#@ player by unplugging it, pressing the standby/on switch and holding it in as I plugged again.

Sorry, but that effort and its result do not qualify for any reaction resembling “Voila!” read article