“A word written is a penny earned – except when it isn’t.” (Anon.)
- Olaf Olafsson (VALENTINES, the novel) is adapting his book into a pilot of the same name for the Sundance Channel. The story focuses on a high-powered NY attorney and his 3 daughters (and is produced by some guy named Robert Redford).
- Dylan Gary (TELL ME YOU LOVE ME) is writing another Sundance Channel pilot, BEHIND THE SUN, about a Malibu family whose lives come unraveled after they learn that their teenage son has a rare allergy to the sun (because, you know, what’s Malibu without sun? Huh? Huh?)
- Aaron Guzikowski (CONTRABAND) is writing the pilot for a 3rd Sundance Channel hopeful, THE DESCENDANTS, about a small town sheriff struggling to do his job and also keep his family together (in the time-honored tradition of – and we’re just guessing here – BEHIND THE SUN).
- Anya Epstein & Dan Futterman (IN TREATMENT) are writing T, about a post-op transgendered male learning to live publicly as a man, yet one more Sundance Channel pilot (guaranteed to appeal…hmm, to whom, exactly? We wonder…)
- Josh Shaffer & Eli Kooris (no major credits so we like them already) are writing DEATH IN THE MODERN AGE, about a suburban guy who plots his own death so he can start a new life for – wow, would you believe it? – the Sundance Channel (intent, it would seem on reinventing itself much like the character here).
We find ourselves fascinated by the total disregard for orthodoxy all the projects above show and hope all of them succeed. Not because we have a thing for Sundance, but because wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the other cable (and broadcast) channels had a good reason to take their own plunges into unexplored fictional terrain?