TV writing deals – Page 14

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 11/2/12

“Love is never making your partner get a day job.” (Anon.)

Dan Harmon (COMMUNITY) has a pick-up from Adult Swim for his animated series RICK AND MARTY, about an inventor and his grandson/sidekick. (Proving you can’t go wrong with Mr. Peabody & the Wayback Machine)
David DiGilo (Disney Writer Program – awesome) is adapting Debra Driza’s soon-to-be-published novel Mila 2.0 into a sci-fi thriller series for ABC. (Proving that new writers should all make friends as possible with extra-hot writer-producers like Shonda Rhimes, whose company is producing this baby. )
Jason Jones (THE DAILY SHOW) is writing the pilot for a Fox sitcom about a single guy acting as guardian for his sister’s kids. (Proving that the concept doesn’t have to be all that high when a hot actor like Steve Carell is producing, as he is here.)
Robert Padnick (THE OFFICE) has written a sitcom pilot about four people trying to deal with their relationship problems and sold it to NBC. (Proving that if you partner up with somebody like Greg Daniels, producer of the soon to be late, lamented THE OFFICE, as Robert has, not only do you not need a high concept, no concept will work just fine too.)
Lew Morton (FUTURAMA, ROB) has partnered with Jake Kasdan (NEW GIRL, FREAKS & GEEKS, THE ZERO EFFECT) on WENTWORTH HALL, an animated comedy for Fox. (Proving that go-to guys help cinch deals even for writers who don’t really need go-to guys.)

We trust that you’ve all learned today’s important lesson.

“Every hugely successful writer I know simply writes what he or she loves…and has been lucky enough to love the same things the audience does.” (LB)

Zach Braff (yeah, that Zach Braff) is writing the pilot for the ABC sitcom GARAGE BAR, about a group of friends dealing with the celebrity of one of them, who has become a pop star. (Zach will also direct and serve as E.P. for the series because, hell, he is a pop star of sorts thanks to SCRUBS and GARDEN STATE.))
Gideon Yago (THE NEWSROOM) is writing CITY HALL, an ABC drama about a city’s youthful mayor and her staff. (Gideon will also be an E.P. because he may not be a pop star but nevertheless his credentials are impressive: He wrote for CBA and MTV News and was fired from THE NEWSROOM by pop star Aaron Sorkin.)
Steve Agee (THE SARAH SILVERMAN PROGRAM) & Rob Schrab (CHILDEN’S HOSPITAL) are writing an “untitled coming-of-age comedy for FX based on Agee’s military school experiences. (No, we don’t usually think of military schools as funny, but the pitch calls this “tonally similar to FREAKS & GEEKS, and a good pitch trumps reality every time.)
David Marshall Grant (BROTHERS & SISTERS) & Michael Lannan (REMEMBER ME) are writing an HBO comedy pilot about being gay in San Francisco. (Sorry, folks, no high concept or pop stars here. Move along, move along.)
Marco Pennette (ANIMAL PRACTICE) has written the TV Land Pilot GIANT BABY. (Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman supply the pop power in this baby. Yeah.)

The Beverly Hills are alive with the sound of, “Cha-ching!”

Jeff Lowell (COMMON LAW, JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE) & Emma Koenig are writing a sitcom pilot for NBC based on Koenig’s blog, “F*ck! I’m in My Twenties” (proving that TV executives love titles they can’t put on TV).
Kenya Barris (SOUL FOOD, GIRLFRIENDS, THE GAME) is “co-creating” FIVEHEAD, a sitcom for ABC, with Tyra Banks, on whose life the show is based (the fact that Barris is listed as “co-creator” and not “writer” proving that even though this is supposed to be a “scripted” series, Ms. Banks has no idea whatsoever what that means).
Joseph McGinty Nichol & Daniel Cerone (creators of SUPERNATURAL, CHUCK, CHARMED, DEXTER)) have sold #RESISTANCE, a series about a kickass woman cop turned vigilantes to CBS (the hashtag proving CBS is much younger/hipper/nerdier than the world previously believed.)
NBC is planning a new series, WUNDERLAND, written by Anthony Zuiker (CSI), about a time in the future when Alice has become an evil queen fighting to stop a young rebel from – you guessed it – the other side of the looking glass – from overthrowing her (proving that nobody at NBC knows what Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland was all about. Nor, it would seem, do they care).

Money, money everywhere, but not a ¢ for us.

Ron Weiner (30 ROCK) is writing an untitled workplace comedy about “a contentious work marriage” and adapting the UK comedy WHITES as well, both as projects for NBC (because sometimes even NBC knows a good writer when they see one).
Tommy Dewey & Greg Bratman (SONS OF TUCSON for Fox) are writing the pilot for a sitcom based on the life of some singer or actor or something name’a John Legend, also for Fox (because it’s, like, a legendary life, we suppose).
and a whole bunch more producers are prepping ELECTROPOLIS, a drama series about undercover cops lurking amid the hipsters who frequent late-night L.A. clubs for the CW. No word on who’s writing this one (probably because nobody who’s heard about the project can stay awake long enough to wait for the writer’s name.)
Howard Franklyn (THE NAME OF THE ROSE, SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME) & Dick Wolf (LAW & ORDER FILL IN THE BLANK, CHICAGO FIRE) are writing THE CHURCH a pilot about a religious cult, for NBC (‘cuz they’re very religious guys, we’re sure…or big cultists maybe? Both? Hmm…)
Bill Lawrence (SCRUBS, COUGAR TOWN) is writing a romantic comedy, UNDATEABLE for NBC (and while we love this guy’s work and are sure it’ll be awesome, we kinda wish he’d come up with a title we could spell).

For those of us who want the vicarious thrill of being in-demand:

Stacy Traub (GLEE) has a pilot deal with Fox for DIRTY BLONDES, starring Angela Kinsey and Rachael Harris (who we’re supposed to know for some reason, but how can they be stars if we have to google ’em to find out who they are?)
Abby Kohn &Mark Silverstein (THE VOW)) are adapting Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 387 Easy Steps by Kelly Williams Brown into a sitcom for Fox. (Um, no, we never heard of THE VOW either, but J.J. Abrams is producing that explains that.)
Jeremy Anderson & Patrick Moss (sorry, can’t find any credits for these guys anywhere) are writing a pilot for yet another soapy series based on Great Expectations at ABC. (Dickens? Pip? Again? Now you know why we aren’t knocking ourselves finding out molre about the writers. They’re gonna phone it in anyway.)
Lauren Bachelis (nope, no credits here either) is adapting her blog Hollywood Assistants into a sitcom, 20-NOTHINGS, for CBS. (Yay, beginning writers who leapfrog over me! Not.)
Uma Thurman is joining the cast of Lars Von Trier’s film, NYMPHOMANIAC. (No, she isn’t a writer. No, this isn’t even happening in television. But we’re so thrilled to find the name of somebody we recognize doing something show-bizzy somewhere that we just had to share. What? No, Lindsay Lohan’s latest fight with her mother absolutely does not count.)