I'm just not that into blogging

Light posting duty as I try and wrap up a rewrite. In the meantime, a few things that caught my eye . . .

One of the persistent fears for aspiring writers outside of Hollywood (and a few of them around here) is having their script "stolen" by producers or studios. Frankly, they don't need to be that worried for a few reasons. As long as they go through the usual channels, e.g., querying companies and submitting the screenplay with accompanying release form to those who request it, the companies will be more than happy to pay (and are bound by the WGA's minimum basic agreement if they are signatories) the writer for a great script. The bigger problem for those writers is that they likely don't have anything close to a script of the quality that Hollywood is willing to pay for. That said, it does happen from time to time, as the recent controversy surrounding Paul Blart: Mall Cop demonstrates. Not a reason to hide your scripts in a locked vault by any stretch but just another reminder to keep records of drafts written, queries sent, and register the works either with the WGA or U.S. Copyright Office.

The Archive of American Television has posted its series of interviews with many legends and some lesser-known names of film and television on YouTube. Lots of great stories from actors, writers, producers, and other creative artists who came up through the industry during the Golden Age of Television.

And the Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship Program deadline is just two weeks away: February 28th. Half-hour specs for any currently-produced network shows (which, as a practical matter, means sitcoms). And although the fellowship is one year working on staff at Nickelodeon, the submissions do not have to be only for "kids" shows. Tick tock, tick tock . . .