Hot Hollywood Movie Deal
I thought it was a bizarre combination when the novel came out last spring: President Abraham Lincoln and vampires. No matter. Hollywood is hot to take this property to the big screen. Several studios were bidding on the project, but over the weekend, 20th Century Fox came out the victor, according to Nikki Finke & Mike Fleming over at Deadline.com.
Los Angeles Author Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel, “Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter” has our 14th President taking out the blood suckers and their slave-owning allies, in revenge for a vampire killing his mother. Oh, it’s going to be made in 3D. Wow! More on the deal at Deadline.com
WGA announces awards for New Media writing
The Writers Guild of America awards ceremony next February will include two new categories: Writing Original New Media and Writing Derivative New Media. WGA-West President John Wells explained the need for the additions in a news release: ““New media writers play an essential role in entertaining, educating, and engaging audiences in the digital arena. These new awards pay tribute to their talents and to the diversity of work being done under Writers Guild contracts.”
The WGA will be accepting submissions through November 23, 2010. Details on eligibility and the new awards on the WGA -West website.
More on the Facebook movie
“The Social Network,” the new movie about Facebook, is the number one flick in the nation. Also, now there’s growing Oscar buzz surrounding the movie. Deadline has that as well as a tidbit about how the screenwriter of the film, Aaron Sorkin, collected a cool $3 million for his work. Who says screenwriting doesn’t pay the bills?
Catching up on …
Some good obits and remembrances of some recently departed celebs over on the Los Angeles Times website — among them, Actor/Artist Tony Curtis and TV Producer/Author Stephen J. Cannell. Cannell was not only a great talent, but a generous writer who was willing to share his knowledge and experiences with other scribes. I heard Cannell speak to writers’ groups a couple of times — and each time he was terrific.
