Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 12/8/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • Murray Miller (GIRLS) has a new overall deal with HBO and is co-writing a comedy pilot for them called MR. ROMANCE with Casper Christian (KLOWN). (Congrats to all concerned. We’re thinking this is going to turn out well for everybody, even the audience.)
  • Scott Kosar (THE MACHINIST) is writing a History Channel miniseries to be called THE LOST YEARS. (And guess whose lost years they’ll be? Nope – Jesus, baby. The secret, hidden truth about The Son Of God. Think that one’ll ever get past the true believers and on the air? For that matter, should it?)
  • Steven S. DeKnight (SPARTACUS) is adapting the Italian drama ROMANZO CRIMINALE into a series for Starz about Philadelphia mobs in the ’60s and ’70s. (Which seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with the original, which is set in Rome in the ’70s and ’80s except, you know, Italian mobsters, whoa! Although come to think of it, that’s probably more than enough.)
  • James Shiban (HELL ON WHEELS) is developing a History Channel miniseries about JAMESTOWN, in all its patriotic glory. (Or, hopefully, in all its harsh reality cuz for us that would be way, way cooler. Good luck, Jimmy boy!)
  • Jenji Kohan (ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK) is creating an HBO series about the Salem witch trials. (And, no, we don’t care how it comes out, we’re in love with anybody who has the cajones to call herself Jenji and on top of that do in her parents by daring to spell her last name with a K.)
  • John Singleton (SHAFT) is writing the pilot for a drama series called CLUB LIFE: MIAMI for HBO. (Which will be totally cool cuz he’s being overseen by one of our biggest heroes over here: Russell Simmons. What a great dude!)

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 4/21/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

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  • Steven S. DeKnight (SPARTACUS, SMALLVILLE) is developing INCURSION for Starz, about a future military force fighting aliens on a different planet each week. (STAR TREK goes all STARSHIP TROOPERS? Cool. )
  • David Feeney (BEN AND KATE) will be writing like mad at 20th TV for the next couple of years thanks to an overall deal to develop new projects and become a writer-producer on NEW GIRL. (Um, wasn’t BEN AND KATE a failure creatively and ratingswise? And isn’t NEW GIRL considered a success? So, um, why…?)
  • Ben Epstein (TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU) is writing a 1-hour drama for MTV about stuff happening in a theme park. (“Details are still being fleshed out.” Translation: “Wow! A theme park, how could we resist the high concept?” Oy!)
  • Neil LaBute (IN THE COMPANY OF MEN feature film) is writing FULL CIRCLE for DirectTV. (Where, evidently, they’ve decided to get into the series biz without having to hire people who might actually want to, you know, get paid.)

The One Film Every New TV Writer Must See

…And it wouldn’t hurt the film types either.

Some showrunner type you may have heard of – Damon Lindelof of LOST

If you want to know what it’s really like to toil in the diamond mines of episodic television, run, do not walk, to SHOWRUNNERS, a documentary that tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Directed by Des Doyle, the full-length film features the most powerful cast of superstar TV showrunners this side of, oh, Venus, including: read article