John Ostrander on Writing Fight Scenes

Yo, action writers!

Read this!

Do it! read article

Dammit, We Missed IndieReCon!

IRCHeader6

Indie ReCon, an interweb conference for self-publishing writers and their support groups, ended yesterday, and from all reports was a worthwhile event chock full of info for what are now called – and rightly so – indie writers and publishers.

We meant to write about this last week, when you could have, you know, actually attended the event. But what with one thing and another, the post got lost in the scheduling shuffle. (Maybe cuz it wasn’t about TV writing per se, but hell, writing’s writing, no?) read article

Speaking of Oscar Nominated Shorts…

HeadoverHeels

…This is a my-T-fine one:

read article

Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 2/22/13

Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are

  • George R.R. Martin (GAME OF THRONES) has signed an overall deal with HBO to continue on THRONES and also develop and produce new series. (We admit it. We love this guy. Everything he writes perfectly justifies our, you know, paranoia worldview.)
  • Want to write an animated TV series based on FarmVille? (We didn’t think so, but if you do, have your peeps get in touch with Brett Ratner’s peeps cuz he’s all gung-ho about such a project and doesn’t have a writer – or network – for it yet.)
  • Justin Herber & Adam Hoff (no credits, which is cool) are writing the pilot for THE EDGE, a thriller type drama about dark goings-on at a hot financial institution for USA. (Music legend John Legend looks like the guy who made the deal…but he doesn’t have any TV credits either, does he?)
  • Frank Spotnitz (THE X-FILES) is adapting Philip K. Dick’s muy heavy novel The Man in the High Castle into a Syfy TV film. (We know Frank’s a Big Writing Gun, but how do you get good science fiction past the Syfy Gateskeepers of Crap? Even with Ridley Scott on board to produce?)

LB: A Few Words from the Man Who Taught Me How to Write for TV

roots1977

I moved to L.A. in the spring of 1968. I was 23 years old, had had half a dozen short stories published in various science fiction and fantasy magazines, a deal with Ace Books for a science fiction novel, and so many hopes and dreams that my heart pounded excitedly all day and all night, no matter what my body was – or wasn’t – doing.

My first deal in L.A. was with a production company headquartered at MGM. The late and legendary Sam Katzman (he may not have been great, but he sure as hell was fascinating), read the only spec script I’ve ever written in my life and promptly optioned a TV series idea I’d written up. Even better, the same deal made me the co-writer of a feature film he was planning. I would be working with the writer-director,  Arthur Dreifuss, on the script. read article