john august – TVWriter.Com

Courier Prime is “the best damn Courier ever”

And it’s free, so, hey, ya gotta love it.

Here’s the scoop, from the scoopers who created it:

Update About Amazon Studios

From the amazingly wonderful blog written by John August, who knows this stuff better than anybody. Wow.

john-august-05 — Articles like this are just the tip of the iceberg at johnaugust.com. (In other words, GO THERE!)

Alert: The following was not written by John but by Reader Mike (but it’s still informative as hell).

Amazon Studios has been a much–discussed topic on both the blog and the podcast. Last week at the Austin Film Festival, the company made a presentation explaining how they work with screenwriters.Reader Mike attended and took notes, which he generously offered to write up.

A little bit about my background: I started out working at a production company as an intern and as a reader, kept working at writing and eventually got representation from a manager and an agent. I’ve had scripts go out and I’ve done the studio water bottle tour a couple of times, but have yet to earn a single penny as a writer.

I consider myself in that grey, ugly pool of zombie writers: Part alive, but mostly dead inside. read article

Big Writer Deals! Big Writer Deals! Big…Oh, You know!

Today’s dose of other people’s successes: (…sigh…)

Max Landis (CHRONICLE) will write the pilot for VIGILANT, a superhero show featuring a “a smart 20-year-old woman who happens to be a social outcast” for Fox. (Hmm, does Fox really want to glorify the kind of person its executives would never set up a meeting with?)
Jason Dean Hall (PARANOIA) is writing an unnamed pilot about a Steve Jobs-like tech billionaire who funds a hospital so its Best-of-Everything staff can heal him – and others as well – for CBS. (Hmm, hmm – this is the second announcement in a row about a writer whose credits we’re unfamiliar with…wonder what that means.)
Chad Hodge (THE PLAYBOY CLUB) is adapting Alice in Wonderland into a series called WUNDERLAND, for the CW. It’s about a female detective in modern-day L.A. who discovers an underground world. (Because a literal interpretation of Alice is all the CW thinks its viewers will understand? Or because that’s all the CW understands. Now there’s something to worry about.)
Richard Price (NYC 22, THE WANDERERS, etc.) is writing the pilot for CRIMINAL JUSTICE for HBO. The show is based on the BBC of the same name about a lawyer who defends people accused of murder and will star James Gandolfini, who also produces. (What? You heard us yawn? Sorry. We’ll be quieter next time.)
Matt Reeves (FELICITY, CLOVERFIELD) has signed a deal with 20th Century-Fox TV to create, write, direct and supervise new drama shows. (So we won’t be reading about him doing a U.S. version of any BBC shows, right? Whew.)
Screenwriting god John August is writing the pilot for CHOSEN for ABC and says, “We’re keeping the logline under wraps, but it centers around a family facing unusual circumstances.” John’s partner on this deal is Josh Friedman of THE (late, lamented) SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES.

Wait, that’s it. It’s all about the partners. Well not all, but the answer to the burning question of how did Max Landis and Jason Dean Hall set up their deals, considering their credits, is that they both have Big Producer Partners. Working with Max is Howard Gordon of HOMELAND. Working with Jason is Peter Lenkov of HAWAII FIVE-0. Don’t you love it when a mystery is solved?