Potter’s Literary Eco-system

by

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about the "the whole literary eco-system spawned by the series" and briefly touched on the fan fiction.

At least a dozen new or updated Harry Potter-related titles will likely
be published this year, according to Cambridge Information Group Inc.’s
R.R. Bowker. These aren’t the kind of faux Potter fantasy tales that
are posted on the Web, though there are plenty of those. (One site,
harrypotterfanfiction.com, says it holds more than 34,000 stories and
receives in excess of 40 million hits a month.)

[…] There are limits. Copyright law will prevent other authors from
offering new titles using Ms. Rowling’s characters and settings unless
they’re obvious parodies. “Boundaries exist,” says David S. Korzenik, a
publishing attorney with the firm Miller Korzenik Sommers LLP.
“Characters can be copyrighted, and settings can be protected,” he
says. “But if you are doing a parody you can go forward with the
understanding that the parody won’t be book eight or nine of the series
but rather is trying to deliver something very different or
transformative.”

Most authors don’t challenge amateur authors who write tales about
favorite characters as long as it’s not commercially distributed, he
says. While it’s technically a copyright infringement, “fan fiction” is
usually perceived as a way for fans to enjoy themselves while creating
further interest in the original work. “Nobody views it as a
substitute,” says Mr. Korzenik. Guidebooks and predictions of future
events are protected as well, as long as authors don’t borrow too
heavily from Ms. Rowling’s work.

A Star For James

by

James Reasoner may be the most prolific writer I know…but until now, most of his books have been written under pseudonyms.  DUST DEVILS, one of the rare books under his own name, has won a starred review  from Publisher’s Weekly.

With a simple but effective plot and understated prose, this outstanding “redneck noir” successfully gives the windswept Texas plains the feel of mean city streets. Young, callow Toby McCoy appears at an isolated farmhouse, apparently just seeking work. Soon he’s plowing the fields, feeding the hogs and making eyes at Grace Halligan, the lovely older woman who owns the place. Just as the two move beyond a professional relationship, strange gunmen appear at the farm, forcing the lovers to reveal the extent of their mutual deceptions as they hit the road—with two dogs in the back of their pickup truck—in search of a double-crossing bank robber and the money he owes Grace. In the spirit of the genre, Reasoner (Texas Wind) saves the final chilling revelations for the very end, captivating the reader with other twists and turns along the way.

Crossing the Finish Line

by

Today is the last day of principal photography on FAST TRACK: NO LIMITS… we have a 7:30 pm call, so we’re going to be filming until well past sunrise. It has been an exhausting shoot, but the enthusiasm of the cast and crew hasn’t dimmed. We were shooting yesterday until 5:30 in the morning today and yet, as tired as everyone was, nobody was surly or short-tempered. It’s amazing. My internal clock is all messed up. I only know what day it is by looking at the call sheet.

Sunday we have our wrap party…where we have lots of gifts and surprises for our great crew. And Monday it’s vacation for everyone but the editors.  I haven’t seen anything cut together yet, but from the dailies alone I can already tell that this movie/pilot is going to be everything I hoped it would be. Now it’s up to me to make sure that the post-production — the music, sound design and color correction — is up to the same level.

I’m also at the "finish line" for MR. MONK IN OUTER SPACE. I received the copy-edited manuscript at my hotel today and I’ll go over the edits between shots tonight/tomorrow on the set and during the day on Sunday. I hope to FedEx the manuscript back to my editor on Monday or Tuesday…we are in a rush to make the November pub date.

Towards the Finish Line

by

_sth8463c There are only two more days left of principal photography on FAST TRACK: NO LIMITS and one "pick-up" days to grab some stray shots that we missed or re-shoots that we need to do. But it’s far from over for me.

I am already looking ahead to post-production, lining up composers and discussing the main title sequence. I have a couple of weeks off to travel around Europe with my family, then I head to Action Concept studios in Cologne on July 14 to do my cut of the pilot and choose a composer…then it’s off to teach another Writer’s Room course in Lohr for a week…and then back to Munich on July 25 to present the rough cut to the network. After getting the network notes, it’s back to the editing room to work on the final cut in time to present it to the network around August 6th, then I return to Cologne for a spotting session and to begin work on the sound design. Fast_track_logo_with_gray_limits I go back to Los Angeles  on August 9 for a few weeks to await word on a pick-up, organize my life, and to do ADR with the American actors. If we get picked up to series, then I return to Berlin to oversee the writing and pre-production on eight episodes. Whether we get picked up or not, I have return anyway to do ADR with the British, French and German actors and to lock the pilot movie.

It’s been an incredible experience and I hope it’s only the beginning for FAST TRACK and not the end.

Variety on Fast Track

by

There was a short bit on FAST TRACK in Tuesday’s issue of Variety:

An English-language urban street racing drama being shot in Germany has just been sold to France’s M6, Japan’s Comstock Group and China’s Beijing Time Entertainment by veteran U.S. distributor Gavin Reardon.

"Fast Track: No Limits" is co-produced by Teuton outfit Action Image and will air in Germany on station group ProSieben.

Reardon last year set up his own international distribution operation in L.A. called And Action! Distribution.

Reardon said Monday that the popularity of automotive-oriented action programming in Asia bodes well for deals in that region. No financial details of the licensing arrangements were made available.

Series is written and exec produced by Lee Goldberg, who, with this project, is importing the American showrunner system into Germany.

Bond Gets Bold

by

Variety reports that  Marc Forster, director of MONSTER’S BALL and FINDING NEVERLAND, has been hired to helm the next James Bond film, which will star Daniel Craig. This is an unusually edgy choice for the  legendarily conservative Bond producers and shows how dedicated  they are to continue redefining 007 for a new generation (these are the same producers who stuck with director John Glenn for several Bond films and  turned  away overtures from the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg). CASINO ROYALE scriptors Paul Haggis, Neil Purvis & Robert Wade are once again teaming up on the script. Purvis & Wade are Bond veterans… they also wrote the last few Pierce Brosnan 007 films.

Fast Track Pre-Sales

by

FAST TRACK isn’t finished yet but we’ve already scored a few advance sales. Here’s the news from World Screen International.

BERLIN/LOS ANGELES, June 18: …and action! Distribution has sold the English-language action drama Fast Track: No Limits, co-produced by Action Image and ProSieben in Germany, to France’s M6, Japan’s Comstock Group and China’s Beijing Time Entertainment.

Fast Track: No Limits is the first English-language action drama shot in Germany. Set in the world of urban street racing, Fast Track: No Limits is a story of a group of characters that include a rookie cop, a trophy wife, a fugitive getaway driver, and a young female mechanic, who believe that car racing in abandoned industrial areas is the only way to know that they’re alive. Fast Track: No Limits was written and executive produced by the award-winning American showrunner Lee Goldberg.

"M6 is an excellent partner and the perfect channel as it fits exactly with the target audience for Fast Track: No Limits," commented Gavin Reardon, the president of …and action! Distribution. “We are also delighted with our sales to the Comstock Group and Beijing Time Entertainment, especially given the success of automotive-oriented action programming in Asia.”

Flop Playhouse

by

Ken Levine fondly remembers the good old days when the networks would burn off their busted pilots during the summer, either sneaking them on unannounced  or as episodes of anthologies with names like "Comedy Theatre" and "CBS Summer Playhouse."  I miss those shows, too. It was those stealth airings of scrapped programs that sparked my love affair with busted pilots when I was a kid and ultimately resulted in my book UNSOLD TELEVISION PILOTS.

Seeing the pilots was a remarkable opportunity to second-guess network programmers and to try to understand their thinking when they crafted their schedules. Most of the time, there was a good reason the pilots didn’t sell…but every now and then, I’d catch a terrific show and feel cheated that it wasn’t picked up.

Watching those flop pilots was  fascinating and a highlight of my summers. I looked forward to it all year (though flop pilots occasionally aired during the regular season, too, usually as TV movies or, near May, as episodes  of existing series).  I used to tape them all on audio cassette (yes, I am a geek) and once video came along, I recorded them all on VHS. Those tapes became the basis for two network specials that I produced — THE GREATEST SHOWS YOU NEVER SAW for CBS and THE BEST SHOWS THAT  NEVER WERE for ABC. Over the last year, I’ve transferred that collection to DVD.

These days, busted pilots are never aired and it’s getting harder and harder even for TV insiders like yours truly to get their hands on screeners. And when you do get one, it feels like you are being slipped stolen property. 

Read more

The Mailbag

by

Reynaldo would like a shortcut to getting published that doesn’t involve getting  rejection letters:

I am aspiring writer and just beginning to venture out in the world […]but I don’t want to face mounds of rejection letters. What can I do? Is there some honest publishing houses I can trust other than Traditional? What about companies like "Lulu"?

If you really want to be a writer, you have to learn to deal with rejection. That’s part of the job. If you can’t handle that, then you should forget about being a writer. But if flushing your money down the toilet is what you really want to do, Lulu is a good option. At least Lulu doesn’t pretend to be anything but what they are: a vanity press.

Jeff wants to know how he can get a book or TV show written about his hilarious life without writing it himself.

I have a very funny life and my friends and family think my stories are hilarious. They think I should do something with them, like a novel or a TV show, because my stories are the funniest  things they have heard in years. But I am not a writer. How can I get a book or TV show with my great stories without writing it myself? How can I find a writer to team up with who can write my stories for me?

Everybody’s lives and relationships are  funny and dramatic and could probably make good novels or movies in the hands of a talented writer. But you need an exceptional story to attract the interest of an established and experiened writer. You could always try contacting screenwriters or novelists that you admire and see  if they would be interested in your story…but, to be honest, I think your chances  of succeeding are very,  very slim. You might want to sign up for some writing courses and take a stab at it yourself instead.

Jeff isn’t the only guy with a hilarious life. Wendy’s life is also hilarious…all she needs is a writer to tell her stories. She’s been a bit more aggressive than Jeff  in trying to make that happen.

Hi. I came across your blog over the internet.  I’m wondering if you can advise me even though you don’t know me. My husband and I are very successful real estate investors. I’m not a writer.  But, that being said, my friends think that the stories I have with my adult children are so hilarious, that they have been jotting down these stories for years.

[…] Anyway, I got inundated with calls and emails from strangers, as well as friends telling me this is the funniest thing they ever read and I should do something with them.  So…not really knowing anyone in the business, I contacted a guy I know who has a son that is a comedy writer in Hollywood.

[…] I didn’t expect much, so you can imagine my shock when he sent me a lengthy email back and telling me that these stories are very funny and he can see them as a tv show very easily. He showed me how to write a Treatment.  Naturally, I got really excited, so I started making a lot of calls.  I called several retired Hollywood writers I could find.  These writers were from TV shows like "According to Jim", "Cheers", etc.  Some were very nice and read my unpolished Treatment.  They all had very positive response and felt it is something that can be marketable.The problem is that I am not a writer and I cannot write a script.  Do you think I should try and find a writer to team up with?  Someone with a good agent?

Wendy, if your story was as  hilarious and marketable as you say it is, one of the comedy writers you’ve already contacted would have asked if he could team up with you or run with it himself.  The fact that one of  those writers didn’t ask should probably tell you something…