Interesting Talking Points

Oscar nominations!

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http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118014578.html?categoryId=3284&cs=1&nid=2854 My personal picks (in the main categories)… BEST PICTURE:  “Up” (although they’ll never give it to an animated film, so if I have to pick a live-action film: “Inglorious Basterds” ACTOR:  Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”) ACTRESS:  Gabourney Sidibe (“Precious”) SUPPORTING ACTOR:  Christopher Waltz (“Inglorious Basterds”) SUPPORTING ACTRESS:  Monique (“Precious”)...

Writers Win Age Discimination Suit

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As you know, we’ve spent a fair amount of time here talking about age discrimination against screenwriters in Hollywood.  Well, last week, screenwriters won a 10-year-old, $70-million suit against 17 networks and studios and 7 literary agencies… go, writers! Here’s a link to the L.A. Times‘ coverage, as well as links...

Matt's Question: What's Your Take on Leno/Conan?

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Hey, guys—   Thanks for all the comments and emails, which I’ve been wading through and will get to shortly!  Jon H. and Jennifer… your questions are on deck, but I wanted to be get to Matt’s post about the Leno/Conan situation while it’s still in the zeitgeist…   I won’t...

TV's Biggest Blunders

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Hey, foiks– just wanted to point you toward a fun list… James Hibberd lists the biggest TV blunders of the decade in this morning’s Hollywood Reporter… pretty dead-on, if you ask me… Click HERE to check out the list! You might also like:No Related Posts

AFI's Top Movies and TV Shows of 2009…

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AFI has released it’s lists of the top movies and TV shows of 2009… Thoughts? AFI’s Top 10 Films of 2009: “Coraline” “The Hangover” “The Hurt Locker” “The Messenger” “Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire” “A Serious Man” “A Single Man” “Sugar” “Up” “Up in the Air” AFI‘s Top...

Caucasian writer seeks minority writing partner?

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In the footsteps of last week’s discussion about diversity and opportunities for minority writers in Hollywood, thought you might enjoy this weird/funny/interesting ad posted on Craigslist today. What are your thoughts on this? Caucasian Comedy Writer with Credits Seeks Minority Writing Partner (Hollywood/Tinsel Town/City of Angels) Date: 2009-12-02, 3:17PM PST Reply...

Top 50 Movies of the Decade… or Not?

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Time Out New York has posted their list of 50 movies that “mattered” over the last decade.  Take a look, see what you think… http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/film/80947/the-tony-top-50-movies-of-the-decade/2.html My two cents?… terrible list.  I don’t know what their criteria was, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be the “best” movies… and I’m not sure...

Diversity in Writers Rooms? Think Again…

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Interesting, but sad, article in this morning’s Variety… detailing the WGA’s 2009 Hollywood Writers Report about diversity amongst writers.  And it turns out… there isn’t much. “White males continue to dominate in both the film and television sectors,” says Darnell Hunt, the UCLA professor who wrote the study. “Although women and...

Don Draper > Barack Obama?

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Is Don Draper (the main guy in Mad Men) more influential than Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, and Simon Cowell?  According to 500,000 men who read AskMen.com— YUP. Check out this poll abput the 49 most influential men in the world… pretty interesting!   (And people say scripted programming is dying!  Uh, apparently...

The State of Hollywood… from a Mogul

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Hey, folks– check out Nikki Finke‘s post of former Fox Films CEO Bill Mechanic‘s (Coraline, The New World) keynote speech at yesterday’s Independent Film & Television Production Conference.  Great insight into the state of movies today… Click HERE to read the speech… You might also like:No Related Posts

Defending Josh Olson

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When I was in grad school at UCLA, one of my professors always said one of a writer’s most important skills was the ability to see things—without judging—from different characters’ perspectives, especially villains’ and bad guys’.  He used to give us an exercise, asking: “How was Hitler right?”  (And before I...

Dear Kay and Josh…

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First of all, huge thanks to Mary for her comment pointing out Kay Reindl’s Seriocity blog post “ripping me a new one!”  (Kay wrote a response to my response to Josh Olson‘s Village Voice piece, “I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script.”)  Josh Olson then posted a response to this blog...

Josh Olson Is Wrong

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A few days ago, I posted a link to screenwriter Josh Olson’s Village Voice column, “I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script,” in which he rails against an aspiring screenwriter who asked him to read his script.   Now, first, let me say this… Josh is fairly vitriolic in this column…...

Why Leno Will Fail… Maybe?

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Jay Leno‘s new not-the-Tonight-Show-version-of-the-Tonight-Show hits the airwaves Monday, and Hollywood is anxious to see how this will play out for NBC.  It’s been a huge controversy in the world of television… with some people applauding NBC for finding inexpensive, ratings-proof (possibly) programming, other vilifying them for axing 5 hours of scripted...

WGA/Bullying Update – I get put in my place (thankfully)

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Thanks to “WGA Writer,” who posted the following response in the comment section of yesterday’s post… “So it was okay for him to cross a picket line and take a WGA writer’s job (Daytime is a WGA covered area) while they were on strike? That’s called being a scab and it...

Is the WGA Bullying Non-Members?

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Hey, folks– At long last, I am finally back to civilization, after 8 days of no Internet access or cell service, which was– strangely– AWESOME! So first of all– thank you to everyone who has emailed over the last week… I promise I’ll get to your messages, questions, and posts asap. ...

The Future of Television?

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Hey, folks– Wanted to point out this awesome article from Chuck Ross in today’s TVWeek.  Reporting from the TCA Press Tour here in L.A., Chuck was at a seminar with Dave Poltrack, Chief Research Officer at CBS, who has broken down a myriad of numbers and statistics on TV-facts, trends, etc…...

Writers Protest the Emmys

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Interesting little news story… as many of you know, Don Mischer, the producer of this year’s Emmy telecast, has revamped the show to make it shorter and more entertaining… and to do that, he’s slashed some of the awards in the directing, writing, and acting categories.  (They’re not actually eliminating the...

Road Trip to No Piracy

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Hey, guys– Wanted to post this great blog, courtesy of Charlie, written today by Brad Riddell, a screenwriter (American Pie: Band Camp, Road Trip: Beer Pong, and Slapshot 3: The Junior League) who also writes The L.A. Dime, a blog about life in LaLaLand. He’s got a GREAT piece today about...

American Idol Contestant Strikes a Blow for Reality Writers

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Who says reality doesn’t have writers?  Certainly not American Idol semi-finalist Ju’Not Joyner (to be fair, I think the guy’s a little bitter… but bitterness aside, he still spills the truth)… http://www.popeater.com/music/article/junot-joyner-says-idol-is-fake/596370#atabc You might also like:No Related Posts

READER QUESTION: What if drinking means drowning in Hollywood?

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Hey, all— Wanted to reprint an interesting email I got from Rebecca, one of our loyal friends and readers, in response to the book review I recently posted for Tom Malloy’s, “Bankroll: A New Approach to Financing Feature Films.”  I don’t agree with her, but I thought she raised some interesting...

The Future of TV: CBS vs. NBC

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Hey, all– Just wanted to point out a great article from Brian Steinberg in this morning’s Ad Age… he does a nice job of pointing out how NBC (which is seemingly in a deadly tailspin) and CBS are both programming their air in vastly different ways– and how their two strategies...

More on Ageism in Hollywood…

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Some of you may remember, a few weeks back when loyal reader Jon sent in a question and we had an ongoing discussion about ageism.  Well, thanks to Jon for sending in “What Hollywood Is Not Letting You See,” a recent piece from Robert Elisberg in The Huffington Post.  It’s a...

Are Emmy's Writing Awards Inaccurate?

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Hey, guys– just wanted to let you all know about a piece I have in today’s issue of Variety about the Emmy‘s “Outstanding Writing” category… and whether or not it’s fair and accurate.  Take a look… and lemme know if you think the Emmys’ process is fair, accurate, or dead-on! Click...