Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 7/10/14

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
by munchman

  • Simon Rich is adapting his book, The Last Girlfriend on Earth, Man Seeking Woman, into a comedy series for FXX. (The show is described as being about a man who “enters the dating scene, a nightmarish hellscape of untold horror.” Hey, they got that right. Now we’ve just got to hope for a few laughs.)
  • Dan Harmon (where have we heard that name before?) is prepping a 6th season of COMMUNITY for Yahoo, of all places, now that the show has been axed once again by NBC. (Which could mean that we’ll have to take Yahoo seriously when it comes to laughter. Um, anybody see what Yer Friendly Neighborhood Munchman did there? Anybody care?)
  • Jeff Pinkner (FRINGE), Josh Appelbaum “>(LIFE ON MARS),Andre Nemec (STAR-CROSSED) and Scott Rosenberg (LIFE ON MARS) are co-writing the pilot for the new CBS drama series, ZOO, based on the novel of the same name by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge. (Which means a big payday for all the writers involved, you can bet your muncher on that – and also big aggravation for the WGAW credits department, which is not known for its love of 4-person writing teams. As in they’re generally denied.)
  • Bryan Fuller (HANNIBAL) & Michael Green (THE RIVER HEROES, whatever that is) are co-writing a pilot for a Starz series adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s, um, masterpiece actually, American God. (Which my munchiness would greet with unmitigated pleasure if I hadn’t wanted that gig so #@!$ing much. But this is still the best TV development news I’ve heard since I started writing this department! Fucking AMERICAN fucking GODS!)

NBC Tries to Bury Tasteless HANNIBAL Ep by Putting It on the Web

Specifically, the network has released the 4th episode of the series – the one about, as HollywoodReporter.Com put it, “children killing other children – for online viewing only, pulling it from the broadcast schedule “out of respect” for the Boston Marathon bombing victims.hannibal

We understand what the network is trying to do, but, really, NBC? All you’re accomplishing is a demonstration of the fact that not only are you idiots who don’t understand that interweb streaming is no longer the minor leagues, you’re also ignorant, out-of-touch morons who don’t understand how tasteless every episode of HANNIBAL is.

Bryan Fuller tells us all about it (his version of the story anyway): read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 3/20/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Glen Mazzara (THE WALKING DEAD) is recovering from being tossed off that show via an overall deal with Fox Television Studios to develop cable projects. (Which has got to be better than staying on DEAD and having to answer to a, you know, comic book guy. Read between the lines of his departure, kiddies.)
  • Amy Poehler’s (PARKS & RECREATION) web series BROAD CITY is moving to the bigger small screen via Comedy Central, with Amy writing a new pilot for the TV version. (Because web-to-TV is very, very in, hip and trendy now…especially if you’re already a, erm, star.)
  • HBO is looking for writers for a TV movie based on Marisa Acocella Marchetto’s graphic novel, Cancer Visen: A True Story. (Because the project already just happens to have a producer/star named Cate Blanchett, and working with Oscar winning stars will always be as in, hip and trendy as can be.)
  • Inspired by the Kickstarter success of  the new VERONICA MARS movie, which, if you’ve been hiding inside a vacuum cleaner, raised $2 mil in about 24 hours and as a result has been greenlighted by WB), Bryan Fuller, Shawn Ryan, and Mike Royce (writer-creators of PUSHING DAISIES, TERRIERS, and MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE respectively) are talking about getting their own piece of rabid fan action to resurrect their cult shows’ beloved corpses. (As huge Kickstarter boosters as TVWriter™ is, we can’t help but get a little testy, however, at the idea of fans bankrolling major studio productions without getting anything but some T-shirts or other souvenirs in return. Hmm, do we smell a new business model developing?)
  • Brian Buckner (TRUE BLOOD) is moving up to showrunner of TRUE BLOOD, replacing Mark Hudis, who replaced Alan Ball. (Which tells us that this isn’t an easy show to take charge of. But at least there’s no Robert Kirkman prob.)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 11/19/12

Showbiz Secret Number Two: Writers always write for love, but if we admit it we’ll never get anybody to pay us.

  • Andrew Miller (THE SECRET CIRCLE) is writing the pilot for SAGA, a drama about a writer who goes missing, for ABC (because writers are so interesting, especially when they’re missing. Just ask ABC).
  • Ted Mann (HATFIELDS & McCOYS) is writing the pilot for History Channel’s new miniseries, TEXAS RISING (because HATFIELDS & McCOYS was a runaway hit, which actually makes perfect sense…unusual, yes, for TV).
  • David Seidler (THE KING’S SPEECH) is writing the pilot for an NBC series based on Ron Chertoff’s Washington: A Life (because Abe Lincoln projects have been doing so well as feature films).
  • Jane Goldman (KICK-ASS, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) is replacing Bryan Fuller on Tim Burton’s live-action PINOCCHIO film, even though Burton isn’t officially attached (because putting Burton’s name on it gets the project mentioned here, there, and everywhere, we suppose).

Okay, okay, PINOCCHIO isn’t a TV project, but, c’mon, it’s got Tim Burton’s name on it, and what the hell, we’re suckers for the guy too, just like everybody else.

See It Here: First Image From MOCKINGBIRD LANE

…AKA THE MUNSTERS. Except creator Brian Fuller is giving us this:

Instead of this: read article