Had dinner with Kevin Falls last night. He's the writer-producer who's working to turn The Touch into a TV series. According to him, ABC loves the concept, loves his pilot treatment, and have told him to write a pilot script -- which he says should be ready in the next week or two.

I liked him a lot. A very genuine, grounded guy; and, with years of experience under his belt (four years at The West Wing, etc.), well-respected in this town.

Funny how things happen. He told me he was giving ABC a rehearsed pitch for a legal series and he could see their eyes glazing over. Came the inevitable question: "What else have you got?" Well, he'd recently read The Touch and had been thinking about it as a series; with nothing rehearsed he winged it at them and all of a sudden their eyes went from glazed to focused.

Still a long, long way to go. Not timewise (because things move quickly in TV Land) but stepwise. ABC has to like the pilot script enough to greenlight casting and filming of the pilot. Then they have to like the pilot enough to greenlight a series.

Major hurdles, but even if they're passed, you then have to pray that the show isn't slotted opposite CSI.

It's all such a crapshoot.

Best-case scenario: the pilot gets made with a great cast; then Invasion gets cancelled, opening up the slot after Lost.

But that's jumping way too far ahead. First let's all hope ABC likes the scipt and greenlights the pilot.

Had dinner with Kevin Falls last night. He's the writer-producer who's working to turn The Touch into a TV series. According to him, ABC loves the concept, loves his pilot treatment, and have told him to write a pilot script -- which he says should be ready in the next week or two.

I liked him a lot. A very genuine, grounded guy; and, with years of experience under his belt (four years at The West Wing, etc.), well-respected in this town.

Funny how things happen. He told me he was giving ABC a rehearsed pitch for a legal series and he could see their eyes glazing over. Came the inevitable question: "What else have you got?" Well, he'd recently read The Touch and had been thinking about it as a series; with nothing rehearsed he winged it at them and all of a sudden their eyes went from glazed to focused.

Still a long, long way to go. Not timewise (because things move quickly in TV Land) but stepwise. ABC has to like the pilot script enough to greenlight casting and filming of the pilot. Then they have to like the pilot enough to greenlight a series.

Major hurdles, but even if they're passed, you then have to pray that the show isn't slotted opposite CSI.

It's all such a crapshoot.

Best-case scenario: the pilot gets made with a great cast; then Invasion gets cancelled, opening up the slot after Lost.

But that's jumping way too far ahead. First let's all hope ABC likes the scipt and greenlights the pilot.

Wow, Paul. That's awesome. Although I understand why you're reserving excitement. The TV and film industry is so fickle.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. I would absolutely love to see The Touch as a series.

Keep us posted!

Susan (proud fan)

Meeting Day:

A non-business get together that I’ve dubbed MOH-Con.

Matt Venne (who’s scripting “Pelts” for Masters of Horror) and I had planned to have breakfast Saturday morning before I headed for the Glendale signing. Then Matt wrote to say that Joe Lansdale (whose story "Incident on and off a County Road" kicked off the MoH series) was in town on Friday only, so why not move the breakfast to Friday. Sure, I said, and let’s get Schow too (he has an original script in MoH’s first season and lives in the Hollywood Hills). So I email David and he says I’ll be there.

So the four of us wind up at a table in the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd. gabbing and catching up for hours. What a great synchronicity.

I was supposed to have lunch with Barry Rosenbush and Joel Fields (respectively the producer and the latest scripter on the Repairman Jack film) but Joel is a staff writer for Commander in Chief and had to beg off because of some last-minute script emergency.

So it was just Barry and I at Cafe del Rey. I love Barry. He’s intelligent and well read and so unHollywood. He says Joel will deliver his rewrite within the next 2 weeks so that He Who Must Not Be Named Under Pain Of Death can read it over the Christmas holidays. I figure we’ll know sometime in January if we’ve got a star.

Yoiks.

If he says yes, the movie is a go. If he says no, well . . . who knows? We’ll either be dead in the water or it’s back for another rewrite.

I hate this.

Had dinner with Kevin Falls last night. He's the writer-producer who's working to turn The Touch into a TV series. According to him, ABC loves the concept, loves his pilot treatment, and have told him to write a pilot script -- which he says should be ready in the next week or two.

I liked him a lot. A very genuine, grounded guy; and, with years of experience under his belt (four years at The West Wing, etc.), well-respected in this town.

Funny how things happen. He told me he was giving ABC a rehearsed pitch for a legal series and he could see their eyes glazing over. Came the inevitable question: "What else have you got?" Well, he'd recently read The Touch and had been thinking about it as a series; with nothing rehearsed he winged it at them and all of a sudden their eyes went from glazed to focused.

Still a long, long way to go. Not timewise (because things move quickly in TV Land) but stepwise. ABC has to like the pilot script enough to greenlight casting and filming of the pilot. Then they have to like the pilot enough to greenlight a series.

Major hurdles, but even if they're passed, you then have to pray that the show isn't slotted opposite CSI.

It's all such a crapshoot.

Best-case scenario: the pilot gets made with a great cast; then Invasion gets cancelled, opening up the slot after Lost.

But that's jumping way too far ahead. First let's all hope ABC likes the scipt and greenlights the pilot.

That's good news! Is he The West Wing's producer? He'll lead it to success. At least, they kick the CSI;Miami's butt. :p

I thought The Touch's concept is good for movie, but I think TV series is pretty nice idea,too.

Paul,
What a fabulously exciting life you lead, or at least it seems so to me. Ever pinch yourself when it gets just tooo thrilling? Or is it all old hat for you by now.

LA, movies, TV, hob knobbing with fellow fabulous writers, flying all over the country and back again, sounds like so much fun.

I think you got it made in the shade, my friend. Which is not to say that you don't work hard, especially given that you have 2 challenging and full fledged careers. But you do make it look effortless.

M

good. (now if I can just find The Touch) I've never gotten the chance to read it, much less find it.... *grin* Here's to its success.

Had dinner with Kevin Falls last night. He's the writer-producer who's working to turn The Touch into a TV series. According to him, ABC loves the concept, loves his pilot treatment, and have told him to write a pilot script -- which he says should be ready in the next week or two.

I liked him a lot. A very genuine, grounded guy; and, with years of experience under his belt (four years at The West Wing, etc.), well-respected in this town.

Funny how things happen. He told me he was giving ABC a rehearsed pitch for a legal series and he could see their eyes glazing over. Came the inevitable question: "What else have you got?" Well, he'd recently read The Touch and had been thinking about it as a series; with nothing rehearsed he winged it at them and all of a sudden their eyes went from glazed to focused.

Still a long, long way to go. Not timewise (because things move quickly in TV Land) but stepwise. ABC has to like the pilot script enough to greenlight casting and filming of the pilot. Then they have to like the pilot enough to greenlight a series.

Major hurdles, but even if they're passed, you then have to pray that the show isn't slotted opposite CSI.

It's all such a crapshoot.

Best-case scenario: the pilot gets made with a great cast; then Invasion gets cancelled, opening up the slot after Lost.

But that's jumping way too far ahead. First let's all hope ABC likes the scipt and greenlights the pilot.

it'll be excellent to see Jack come to life.

Meeting Day:

A non-business get together that I’ve dubbed MOH-Con.

Matt Venne (who’s scripting “Pelts” for Masters of Horror) and I had planned to have breakfast Saturday morning before I headed for the Glendale signing. Then Matt wrote to say that Joe Lansdale (whose story "Incident on and off a County Road" kicked off the MoH series) was in town on Friday only, so why not move the breakfast to Friday. Sure, I said, and let’s get Schow too (he has an original script in MoH’s first season and lives in the Hollywood Hills). So I email David and he says I’ll be there.

So the four of us wind up at a table in the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd. gabbing and catching up for hours. What a great synchronicity.

I was supposed to have lunch with Barry Rosenbush and Joel Fields (respectively the producer and the latest scripter on the Repairman Jack film) but Joel is a staff writer for Commander in Chief and had to beg off because of some last-minute script emergency.

So it was just Barry and I at Cafe del Rey. I love Barry. He’s intelligent and well read and so unHollywood. He says Joel will deliver his rewrite within the next 2 weeks so that He Who Must Not Be Named Under Pain Of Death can read it over the Christmas holidays. I figure we’ll know sometime in January if we’ve got a star.

Yoiks.

If he says yes, the movie is a go. If he says no, well . . . who knows? We’ll either be dead in the water or it’s back for another rewrite.

I hate this.

Meeting Day:

A non-business get together that I’ve dubbed MOH-Con.

Matt Venne (who’s scripting “Pelts” for Masters of Horror) and I had planned to have breakfast Saturday morning before I headed for the Glendale signing. Then Matt wrote to say that Joe Lansdale (whose story "Incident on and off a County Road" kicked off the MoH series) was in town on Friday only, so why not move the breakfast to Friday. Sure, I said, and let’s get Schow too (he has an original script in MoH’s first season and lives in the Hollywood Hills). So I email David and he says I’ll be there.

So the four of us wind up at a table in the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd. gabbing and catching up for hours. What a great synchronicity.

I was supposed to have lunch with Barry Rosenbush and Joel Fields (respectively the producer and the latest scripter on the Repairman Jack film) but Joel is a staff writer for Commander in Chief and had to beg off because of some last-minute script emergency.

So it was just Barry and I at Cafe del Rey. I love Barry. He’s intelligent and well read and so unHollywood. He says Joel will deliver his rewrite within the next 2 weeks so that He Who Must Not Be Named Under Pain Of Death can read it over the Christmas holidays. I figure we’ll know sometime in January if we’ve got a star.

Yoiks.

If he says yes, the movie is a go. If he says no, well . . . who knows? We’ll either be dead in the water or it’s back for another rewrite.

I hate this.

Well, Paul, consider an alternative life you might have had... You're an English professor at a small liberal-arts college in the People's Republic of Vermont. Your poetry books are highly-regarded...by all 769 people who read them. At =last=, you've written the poem you've been working towards, the one that will be remembered for a thousand years. You exhale, head for the fridge for a cold Ybor Gold to celebrate... Your wife comes home drunk, again. (Which of your graduate students was it this time?) In her stupor, she falls against the computer keyboard, deleting your masterpiece.

And that was a long insight into the human conditon that would have left Homer, Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, and William Carlos Williams on their barstools chanting your name. It's gone. You'll never remember the finer parts. It wasn't you--it was the Muse who wrote so fast to finish it. You'll never remember. But you =do= remember where you keep the gun...
TONIGHT ON NBC! A SHOCKING TALE OF LOVE, ART, BETRAYAL... AND MURDER! THE TRAGIC STORY OF F. PAUL WILSON! WRITTEN BY AWARD-WINNING MATT VENNE! :eek:
Might be wrong, Paul, but it seems to me you got big mucho plenty to be dee-lighted about!

Well, Paul, consider an alternative life you might have had... You're an English professor at a small liberal-arts college in the People's Republic of Vermont. Your poetry books are highly-regarded...by all 769 people who read them. At =last=, you've written the poem you've been working towards, the one that will be remembered for a thousand years. You exhale, head for the fridge for a cold Ybor Gold to celebrate... Your wife comes home drunk, again. (Which of your graduate students was it this time?) In her stupor, she falls against the computer keyboard, deleting your masterpiece.

And that was a long insight into the human conditon that would have left Homer, Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, and William Carlos Williams on their barstools chanting your name. It's gone. You'll never remember the finer parts. It wasn't you--it was the Muse who wrote so fast to finish it. You'll never remember. But you =do= remember where you keep the gun...
TONIGHT ON NBC! A SHOCKING TALE OF LOVE, ART, BETRAYAL... AND MURDER! THE TRAGIC STORY OF F. PAUL WILSON! WRITTEN BY AWARD-WINNING MATT VENNE! :eek:

That sounds like a made for television movie.

That sounds like a made for television movie.

I think so too. But if only we can get Ed Norton to play Paul.