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Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Matt Greenberg (1408 ) is writing a version of some old manuscript called BEOWULF for Syfy. (And all we can do is…hmm, come to think of it, there’s absolutely nothing we can do, or even say. This idea doesn’t even rouse us enough to shrug. How about you?)
- Christopher Hampton (DANGEROUS LIASONS) is turning his Oscar winning screenplay for said project into a TV series at the BBC. (Which hopes to get it onto U.S. TV cuz…$$$. (Are we looking forward to a series about an evil couple who spend all their time corrupting/debauching innocents? Should we be? Gotta admit that our answer to one of those questions is, “Yeppers!” Can you guess which one?)
- Bob Brush (THE WONDER YEARS) is writing STAR CRAZY, a drama abut a young Latina singer as she rises from poverty to fame and fortune for The CW. (Does this mean that Selina Gomez has conquered the world and become a mythic character all by her lonesome? Without the Bieb? Ain’t life grand?)
- The brotherly writing team of Roberto Benabib & Kim Benabib are writing the pilot for THE BRINK an HBO comedy about dirty politics and stuff like that. (HOUSE OF CARDS with episodes that only take half as long to watch? If so, our hat is off to Netflix for starting what could be an interesting trend? Or is this doomed to end up just another same-old, same-old? Whatcha think?)
- Katie Ford & Jane Ford’s Canadian series, WORKING THE ENGELS, is coming to the U.S. via NBC in what’s billed as “the first sitcom collaboration between a U.S. and Canadian broadcaster.” (Our experience with comedy is Canada urges us to label this an impending disaster, but we’re happy to be corrected by anyone out there with a good sense of humor. Canadians, of course, need not apply cuz…comedy, y’know?
Are we gonna get in trouble for this?)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Shane Dawson (Newb Who’s a Big Deal on Youtube, bitches! ) has sold a comedy series, LOSIN’ IT, to NBC, and Darlene Hunt will write the pilot based on their story. (The show is a workplace comedy about a weight loss center, which to us means that it’ll get a huge tune-in for the first episode. But will its viewers then be able to keep to their LOSIN’ IT diet? Or will NBC screw it up?)
- Ricky Blitt (THE FAMILY GUY) is developing a comedy called HERE’S YOUR DAMN FAMILY for Fox. (And we don’t care what its about or how well – or badly – it’s executed, we’ll watch the series out of absolute, unconditional love for the title.)
- Melissa Rosenberg (DEXTER) is writing JESSICA JONES for ABC, based on the Marvel Comics 2nd – maybe even 3rd – tier character. (But the important thing here is that it’s a superhero adventure series centered on a woman, and that’s huge in both the TV and comics industries, where discrimination has always been solidly entrenched. Fingers so crossed for this one.)
- Joe Hill (LOCKE & KEY comic book) is writing a reboot of TALES OF THE DARKSIDE. (Which is good news even to re-boot hating TVWriter™, mainly cuz we’d thought Team Mediocrity AKA Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, were going to have that gig. Yeah, we know, calling those guys mediocre is actually giving them the benefit of the doubt. But that’s us…kind to a fault!)
- Tim Kring (HEROES) & Gideon Raff (HOMELAND) are writing DIG, a 6 episode action series for USA about an FBI agent in Jerusalem who discovers a 2000 year conspiracy that’s about to come to fruition. (You know the rest, world-shaking danger ensues…with each episode becoming more tedious than the one that preceeded it until, at the end, only about 1/5 of the original audience is there to see how it ends. Cuz…HEROES and HOMELAND, you know?)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Matt Lopez (RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN) is adapting Chelsea Cain’s upcoming book series, ONE KICK, into a drama series for NBC. Once you get past the backstory, this looks to be very much like BATMAN with a hot babe. (Which means we are sooo cool with this that we’re shaking in anticipation.)
- Laura Gutin (1600 PENN) is developing OLIVIA JONES IS MY GIRLFRIEND, an NBC comedy about a friendship between a girl who’s never had a boyfriend and another girl who’s never had any girl friends. (Yep, we have no idea what that means either, but…1600 PENN, know what we’re saying?)
- Laura Solon (2005 Edinburgh Fringe Fest award winner, so yay!) is writing a comedy about a nanny who has no problems with the kid she cares for, but, oh, is his dad ever a dick. (No, they didn’t exactly put it that way, but…reading between the lines, know what we’re saying?)
- Joshua Sternin & Jennifer Ventimilia (THAT ’70s SHOW) are writing an NBC comedy about two guys whose longtime friendship is hanged when one of them becomes a woman. (Based on Jennifer’s own change from Jeffrey Ventimilla, this series is impossible for us to snark about cuz…well, it just seems so damn sincere. Still, we’d like to point out that the official announcement by ABC used the “Jeffrey Ventimilla name. What does that tell us about the net?)
- Matt Michnovetz (24) has a deal at The CW for THE COVER, an FBI drama that reminds of an aging Sean Penn movie called STATE OF GRACE. (Which means this could be very well done on, say, Showtme or FX or TNT or HBO or Starz. But The CW? That could be cause for just a bit of concern.)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Neal Baer (UNDER THE DOME) is adapting the old pulp magazine series, The Avenger into a series for The CW. (Cuz let’s face it, the title is hot, and the old magazine company – Conde Nast – that owns the rights to it wants to cash in. But if you’re a fan of the pulp version we think you’re going to be greatly surprised by what any CW take on the character will be like. Luckily for us, we’ve never read the old mags, but still…)
- Dean Widenmann (he wrote a CBS pilot called BACK) is adapting Alexandra Robbins’ nonfiction book, The Secrets Of The Tomb: Skull And Bones, The Ivy League And The Hidden Paths Of Power, into an ABC serial drama called THE ORDER. (And this could be very cool indeed cuz…”Skull and Bones.” Yeah!)
- Rene Balcer (LAW & ORDER) is developing a Starz drama about the FBI in the ’80s, when porn became the big business it isn’t today. (Cuz people gave a shit about it then, while now amateurs and their own personal sex lives rule. At least that’s how it seems to us since we of course know nothing whatsoever about what’s happening in the sex trade. Nosirree. Absolutely not. Un-uh.)
- Tina Fey & Robert Carlock (30 ROCK) are writing a straight-to-series comedy about a woman who escapes from a doomsday cult and starts life over again in NYC. (Where, undoubtedly, she discovers a whole new sort of doomsday that might even be worse. At least that’s what we hear NYB is like. After all, we of course know nothing about the Big Apple cuz we hid out on Long Island for the first 18 years of our life.)
- Moshe Kasher (a stand-up comedian, natch) is also writing and starring in an autobiographical comedy for Showtime. (Cuz, hey, Moshe Kasher! He’s a household name, right! We of course know nothing about the comedy biz or Showtime cuz, as our diatribes here have probably made pretty clear, we never ever ever even watch fucking TV. Um…too far? Did we just cross some kind of line? Let us know. Or not. Actually, preferably not. Thanks! Hope you’ve had a terrific weekend!)
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
- Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim (TIM & ERIC AWESOME SHOW) are developing TIM AND ERIC’S BEDTIME STORIES, an anthological fantasy series, for Adult Swim. (And any show on Adult Swim is a friend of ours, so, “Yay, Tim and Eric!” See how easy we really are?)
- Larry Golin (ROCKY MARCIANO? What kind of credit is that?) is adapting Eddie MacKenzie’s memoir, Street Soldier, into a Fox “event series” about the Boston Irish mob. (Brace yourselves for the coming of the Irish Anti-Defamation League. After all, if the
mafia Italian-Americans could do it….)
- Ian Sobel & Matt Morgan (newbies!) have sold their spec pilot, HARVEST, to A&E. It’s about a guy who’s life goes all to hell when his crooked father forces him into the body-trade business. (In other words, somebody sees a chance to give the audience what it clearly desires – a newer, even more disgusting variation of BREAKING BAD. Which could work, wethinks…if it’s as funny as BREAKING BAD.)
- David Wilcox (666 PARK AVENUE) has parlayed that series remarkable success into an ABC drama pilot called ENTRAPMENT, about a beautiful, young, female prosecutor accused of murder. (Oh wait, 666 PARK AVENUE bombed. Guess nobody told ABC.)
- Continuing his distinguished career, His Geniusship Mr. Wilcox is also writing the pilot for BADLANDS, a supernatural Western, for The CW. (Whoa, a shoe with roots on The CW and 666 PARK AVENUE. This is true Do Not Miss TV – especially if you’re driving a very big truck.)
- Ed Burns (yeppers, that Ed Burns) is writing PUBLIC MORALS, a period cop show for TNT. (He’s also directing the pilot and starring as well cuz…fucking Ed…fucking Burns, bitches!)