EXCLUSIVE: Alex Gansa, who developed Showtime’s hot freshman drama Homeland with Howard Gordon, has signed a two-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV, which developed the series and whose cable division Fox21 produces it. Under the pact, Gansa will continue to executive produce/co-showrun Homeland with Gordon and will also develop new projects both for cable and network. “The work that Alex Gansa has done on Homelandfor the last year and a half is as good as any work I’ve seen done in television,” said Fox 21 president Bert Salke. “He lives and breathes the show, and he has a great instinct about what is right for the world…”
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We’ve been joyfully reading about a myriad of overall TV deals for writer-producers lately and love that writers are getting not only this much money and opportunity but also this kind of publicity.
Several longtime big-deal pros, however, have pointed out the real fly in this particular ointment, so we at TVWriter™ feel oh-so-obligated to pass it on:
Long term commitments rob the talent of one of the mostwonderful powers independent creative people have:
The power to turn, stride out the door, and say, loudly, clearly, joyfully, and, most important of all relevantly when someone’s screwing up your work:
“Fuck you!”
Just a little something to keep in mind, kids, that’s all.
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Author: LB
A legendary figure in the television writing and production world with a career going back to the late ’60s, Larry Brody has written and produced hundreds of hours of American and worldwide television and is a consultant to production companies and networks in the U.S. and abroad .
Shows written or produced by Brody have won several awards including - yes, it's true - Emmys, Writers Guild Awards, and the Humanitas Award.
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