Tag: People’s Pilot Contest

John Ostrander: Bad Boys, Bad Boys

by John Ostrander

Ostrander-Art-140119-150x181

I was watching perhaps my favorite new TV show of the season, The Blacklist, last Monday. James Spader’s Raymond “Red” Reddington exacts a fierce revenge on those who wronged him. Reddington has done terrible things throughout the series and yet I find myself drawn to him, even rooting for him. I doubt that I’m the only one.

It’s not the first time for me. There was James Gandolfini in The Sopranos and, to an even greater extent, Michael Chiklis in The Shield. Who is the real center of The Dark Knight – Christian Bales’ Batman or Heath Ledger’s Joker? It’s a tradition that goes back a long way – the most interesting character in Shakespeare’s Othello isn’t the title character but Iago, the great and cunning villain of the play. read article

Writers Sue Fox, Peter Chernin, WME et al Claiming ‘New Girl’ Is A Ripoff

It’s an unwritten rule of showbiz that every successful film and TV series must be sued – usually multiple times – by writers claiming that they’re the true creators of the project. This week, NEW GIRL proudly joins that high and mighty but not really so elite class:

by The Deadline Team

negirlIn Hollywood’s latest “you stole my idea” case, a pair of screenwriters have filed a lawsuit claiming the Zooey Deschanel sitcom was based on their work. Stephanie Counts and Shari Gold claim that Fox’s New Girl and their 2006 pilot Square Onecontain similarities “so numerous and specific that independent creation was obviously impossible.” They name as defendants New Girl exec producerPeter Chernin, creator Elizabeth Meriwether, director Jake Kasdan, WME and Fox parent company 21st Century Fox.

Weighing in at 90-plus pages, the suit filed Thursday in California’s Central District (read it here) claims a laundry list of “similarities between the shows’ themes, structure, setting, overall story and plot arcs, specific plot devices, interpersonal twists, dialogue, sequence of events, tenor, specific scenes and elements of scenes, character identities, character personalities, character relationships, character interaction, character development, character idiosyncrasies, and character names require the conclusion that defendant Meriwether not only knew of Square One, but copied Square One to create New Girl.”

Herbie J Pilato: “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”

great-power-great-responsibilityby Herbie J Pilato

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

So said Spider-Man’s kindly and wise Uncle Ben (as played by the legendary Cliff Robertson) to the young web-slinger (Tobey McGuire) in the first major live-action Spidey feature film (2002).

The same could be said for the writer’s touch on television. read article

The Road to Sitcom Hell

The Writers Guild of America West scores with this irreverent (you’ll see what we mean) interview with EPISODES creators David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik:

Showtime-Episodes

The Road to Sitcom Hell
by Denis Faye

Episodes’ David Crane & Jeffrey Klarik riff on why they’re still scripting the Hollywood-skewering comedy all by themselves and why they’ll never, ever, go back to writing for network. read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 1/23/14

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are=&0=&Tara Butters & Michele Fazekas (DOLLHOUSE) are creating/writing/producing AGENT CARTER, a spinoff of the CAPTAIN AMERICA character for, natch ABC. (And it better be better than AGENTS OF SHIELD, you hear me? Do ya? I mean it! Cuz there’s just so much disappointment a Marvel Maniac can take, you know?) Thomas Kelly (COPPER) has signed a new overall deal with AMC to write/produce/develop/you know the drill TV stuff. (Kelly’s an amazing prose writer as well as a TV and film guy. In fact, he’s kind of my hero, so this is muy exciting.) Amy Poehler (PARKS AND RECREATION) has a new overall deal with NBC. Her first project is as co-creator of the tentatively titled OLD SOUL, a comedy about a woman trying to find herself by working with “a group of elderly people.” (Hoo, boy! More funny old folks! My grandparents can hardly wait! Although maybe that’ll be an inducement for them to stay alive. No, not to watch but so they can complain? Geema, whatcha think?) Jon Robin Baitz (BROTHERS & SISTERS) is writing THE SLAP, an NBC miniseries about “what happens when a man slaps another couple’s misbehaving child at a family BBQ.” (Am I wrong in thinking that this will either be intentionally hilarious as hell…or unintentionally hilarious as hell? See how I did that? Got this thing totally covered now.)