Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 11/21/14

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Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are=&0=& (BACK IN THE GAME) is writing the pilot for an untitled ABC comedy based on – surprise! – his childhood. (But wait, there’s actually something cool about his childhood. Gregg’s father was an aspiring blues player – okay, so was everybody’s father in my generation, still – and his mother was a “locally famous” puppeteer. And, das munchkind’s gotta level with ya: I %^$! lurve puppets!) Amanda Knox (newbie famous for being convicted, then acquitted, then convicted again of murdering her roommate in Italy – something many of us who’ve spent any time in college in Italy have often wanted to do) has landed a job as “a freelance writer for the West Seattle Herald. (Giving new currency to the old expression, “Who do I have to kill to get hired around here?” Aw, c’mon, that was funny. You know it was.) =&1=& (PRETTY LITTLE LIARS) is adapting Sara Shepard‘s new Young Adult book series into an ABC Family murder mystery about…oh, wait, that would give away the mystery, wouldn’t it? (Truth in journalism confession: Hey, it’s ABC Family, right? What the hell do I care about any show on that bottom feeding network? I mean, it’s gonna be awful, right?) =&2=& (Oscar nominated writer of UP IN THE AIR) is writing Fox’s DIRTY DEEDS pilot. The series is based on a GQ article called “Oops, You Just Hired the Wrong Hitman” by Jeanne Marie Laskas, who obviously has a penchant for smart and funny titles that could all by itself give her a huge career. (Actually, the hitman is really an undercover ATF agent and…well, danger and hilarity are sure to ensue.)

That’s it for now. Write in and tell munchilito what you’ve sold today. TVWriter™ can’t wait to brag to all your friends. (And, more importantly, enemies. Hehehe….)

ABC Family, NOW AND THEN, and Marlene King

Quick Quiz: What do ABC Family, the film NOW AND THEN, and Marlene King have in common?

ABC Family Developing NOW AND THEN TV Series
by Margaret Lyons

Before she was the showrunner for Pretty Little Liars, I. Marlene King wrote the screenplay for the 1995 slumber-party staple Now and Then. Now there’s talk of her combining these treasures into a Now and Then–based TV series for ABC Family, Variety reports. King and the network are still in the early stages of developing the show, so a finished product is pretty far off — but that just gives us more time to figure out how to LARP inside the idea of a TV show. Except for Ashleigh Aston Moore, who died in 2007, the actresses who played the kids in the movie are now juuuust about the right age to play the grown-ups in this new imagining … read article