āļøĀ Writerās Quotes to Live By
āEvery secret of a writerās soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.ā
ā Virginia Woolf
āļøĀ All Quiet on the Hong Kong Front???!!!
This past week China has gone to war with the NBA after the Houston Rockets General Manager, Darryl Morey tweeted a pro āHong Kongā supporting the demonstrators with the continent on the brink of a civil war.
The tweet from Morey stated āFight for Freedom. Stand with Hong KongāĀ
In retaliation to the NBA-affiliated faux-paux, Chinese-mega-juggernaut TencentĀ have canceled plans to stream any NBA games to their 500 million users, as of this moment.
South Park also got the Chinese ban last week, after airing their 299th episode titled āBand in China.ā The episode mocked American' corporations and their willingness to ābend the kneeā for success in Chinese.
The series āSouth Parkā has now been scrubbed from all Chinese streaming services, social media sites, including Weibo and Baidu, fan sites and discussion pages, according to reports.
āļøĀ Are TV Creators Really GETTING PAID???
Peter Morgan, the brain child behind Netflixās mega hit The Crown, has signed an overall creator deal valued in the eight-figure range. The deal will encompass film and television, as well as a two season renewal for āThe Crown,ā bringing the series total to six. I know what youāre thinking, so what, another writer got a Brinks truck full of money! Big Whoop! Everyone from our proverbial Queen Shonda Rhimes, to JJ Abrams,Ā Matt and Ross Duffer, and evenĀ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and not to forget Phoebe Waller-Bridge or Ryan Murphyā¦ they have all signed these deals ā at price points ranging from $20 million up to $500 million. My question is, do you think the deals will pay off for these streamers?
The formula is very simple for these corporationsā¦ content = attention and attention in society today = MONEY! Do you think weāre in the Golden Era of the writerās age? Do you think that this a day weāll look back on and say, āMan, we writers sure had it good.ā What are your thoughts on these mega-blockbuster series creator deals? Are they a cap on the talentsā creativity, or simply a way to not own your content years from now after the series is running in syndication?
Iām dying to hear your thoughts.
āļøĀ The Sundance 2019 Episodic LabĀ Kicks Off
This years Sundance 2019 Episodic LabĀ Advisors are kicking off October 10th ā 15th the Sixth Annual Episodic Lab at Utahās Sundance Mountain Resort, and there will be some heavy hitters in attendance. āAmerican GodsāĀ showrunner, Charles āChicā Eglee andĀ āJustifiedāĀ showrunner,Ā Graham Yost, along with a slew of connected television executives will be providing guidance for nine original independent pilots and their 14 creators in attendance.
Barbara Crawford (Vice President Current Series, FX Networks), Deniese Davis (Chief Operating Officer, ColorCreative), and Marta Fernandez (President, MACRO Television Studios). Susie Fitzgerald (EVP of Original Scripted Content, AMC and SundanceTV), Anne-Marie McGintee (Director, Original Drama Series, Netflix), Rose Catherine Pinkney (Senior Executive of Scripted Programming, BET Networks), Jeff Schwartz (Development Executive, Amazon Studios), Barbara Teixeira (Head of Television, RT Features), Sarah Timberman (Partner, Timberman-Beverly Productions), and Kathryn Tyus-Adair (SVP of Original Programming, STARZ) will be mentoring the Fellows, as well, over the five day Labs.
Congrats to the fourteen writers: Biniam Bizuneh & Opeyemi Olagbaju, Claire Rothrock & Ryann Weir, Soo-Hyun Chung & Jonathan Sanford, Henry Alberto & Valerie Stadler, Lindsay Weiglein, Katherine DiSavino, Adamma Ebo & Adanne Ebo, and Lekethia Dalcoe.
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āļøĀ Sources:
https://deadline.com/2019/10/china-houston-rockets-nba-controversy-1202755422/
https://deadline.com/2019/10/south-park-300th-episode-banned-in-china-1202754127/
https://deadline.com/2019/10/china-houston-rockets-nba-controversy-1202755422/
https://deadline.com/2019/10/south-park-china-response-trey-parker-matt-stone-houston-rockets-1202754428/
https://deadline.com/2019/10/sundance-labs-tom-fontana-american-gods-graham-yost-episodic-fellows-2019-1202755393/
https://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2019-sundance-episodic-lab