Another TVWriter™ Contest Winner Scores

High-fivin’ like Egyptians, yeah!

TVWriter™ is proud to give this congratulatory shout-out to Ryan Harris, whose teleplays, THE GLADES: A PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE and JUSTIFIED: DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN came in 1st and 3rd, respectively, in the Action/Drama/Dramedy Division of the 2011 Spec Scriptacular. We’ve just learned that Ryan is a staff writer on NBC’s new drama, CHICAGO FIRE, which debuts tonight, October 10th, at 10 PM (9 PM Central).

Big congrats, Ryan. Take a bow!

Most gratifying for all of us here were these Very Important Words from Ryan: read article

Today’s TV Writing Deals Dept – 10/10/12

…And then there was the young actress who was so dumb (how dumb was she?) she screwed a writer.

  • Jon Robin Baitz (BROTHERS & SISTERS) is writing a limited run drama series based on the Australian series THE SLAP for NBC. (Although we doubt it’ll get on the air – no cops, no perps, no life or death; how can U.S. TV handle that?)
  • Neil Cross (LUTHER) is adapting The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard into a 10 episode series for NBC. (Sorry but we can’t think of anything snarky to say about the guy who created LUTHER. Well, except that we thought his novel based on the show was, um, badly written. Guess TVWriter™ will have to run a review of it sometime.)
  • Chris McKenna (COMMUNITY, THE MINDY PROJECT) is writing a sitcom about a family of orphans being raised by their oldest brother, the black sheep, for NBC. (Can’t snark about this either because…orphans? black sheep brother? who even cares…?)
  • Michael Questa (HOMELAND) and Gerald Questa (his brother) are writing SECOND SIGHT an adaptation of a British series about a detective who goes blind, for CBS. (So much room for snark on this easy target that we’re just not going to go there. We need a challenge, you know?)
  • Chris Fedak (CHUCK) is adapting Scott Westerfeld’s Midnighters book trilogy for Fox (Hey, we liked CHUCK, so we’re happy to congratulate Chris on finally getting another gig. That isn’t snarky at all, right?)

The Harsh Facts of New TV Series Life

These stats must be correct; they’re from the Futon Critic. (A site everybody who loves TV should know.)

The 10 Things You Need to Know About the New Season, Part 10: History Is on the Side of the Majority of This Fall’s New Shows – by Brian Ford Sullivan

1) Only 32% of broadcast network shows make it to a second season.
2) Shows that premiere in September have the best chance of survival.
3) Scripted and unscripted shows fail at the same rate.
4) Friday night is indeed the “death slot.”
5) 10 o’clock is just as successful as any other time period.
6) 5% of shows that are announced don’t even air.
7) 4% of broadcast series have changed networks.
8) New shows on average lose 14% of their audience by episode two.
9) Cable dramas are almost twice as likely to return as broadcast ones.
10) History is on the side of the majority of this fall’s new shows.

Welcome once again to “The 10 Things You Need to Know About the New Season,” our recurring feature about, well… the 10 things you need to know about the new season. The goal of this venture is to address not only common questions people have about television but to also demystify (or potentially reaffirm) stigmas out there about certain networks, time periods, genres and so forth. It’s been a few years so we’ll revisit some of our previous research as well as dig into some new areas we haven’t touched on before. read article

A Graphic Novel That Truly Breaks New Ground

We think this is so freaking cool:

Inside Chris Ware’s Graphic-Novel-in-a-Box – by Kat Ward

“It’s got a certain degree of chutzpah and pretension to it,” says cartoonist Chris Ware of his latest work, Building Stories, a complex, multipart graphic novel whose contents fill an entire box and wind their way through fourteen different elements, including pamphlets, mini-comics, magazines, newspapers, and a Little Golden Book. “The whole book is supposed to be a dream object,” explains Ware. “I wanted the box to be a beautiful thing and to have that promise to it that a gift has on Christmas morning.” read article

Today’s TV Writing Deals Dept: 10/9/12

“Show me the writer who hasn’t sold out and I’ll show you the writer who hasn’t been asked yet.” Norman Mailer to Larry Brody, 1976

  • Marc Hyman (MEET THE FOCKERS) is writing a comedy pilot called TAMING OF THE SHREW for NBC, about a tyrannical woman CEO “and the office staff who try to tame her.” (Produced by Julia Roberts so, gee, think it’ll make the next schedule?)
  • Samuel Baum (LIE TO ME) has signed a development deal with CBS TV Studios and sold an untitled drama about a doctor who battles politics and business “to keep Americans healthy” to CBS. (In the ’70s LB was one of the story editors of a highly awarded series called MEDICAL STORY that did that same thing…and was cancelled after 13 episodes, so all we can say to Sam Baum is, “Look out!”)
  • Guillermo del Toro (a bunch of great feature film stuff as writer-director-producer) wants us all to know that his planned HULK TV series for ABC is still writerless. (In other words, the job is open, boys and girls. Get out there and hustle!)
  • Jay Scherick & David Ronn (SMURFS) have sold CBS a sitcom pilot about two very different brothers and their families having to share a house.  (We’re thinking MODERN FAMILY without the “modern,” and with a bunch of green-skinned little geeks, but who really knows?
  • Elizabeth Wright Shapiro (actress-writer with some kind of connections we know nothing about) is writing a sitcom about an Ivy League feminist who ends up living with two typical L.A. babes for CBS. (This one’s going to be produced by Elizabeth Banks, one of the co-stars of 30 ROCK, and her husband, in case you’re wondering how the deal came to be. Wonder if either of the two Elizabeths, or the husband, knows Guillermo del Toro…)