Another great round up...

NEWS: Back from the Future: Sci-Fi is on the cards for the small screen this year. No Ordinary Family sees Michael Chiklis as the head of a family of superheroes (Please note this is not the Fantastic 4), La Femme Nikita is getting picked up the CW. J.J. Abrams returns to the small screen with Undercovers while Steven Spielberg has two TV projects, Terra Nova sees a family from the future living in the past and as of yet untitled Alien Invasion drama. Another big name director Frank Darabont throws his hat into the TV ring with The Walking Dead. Remakes are on also on the cards with US versions of both Torchwood and Being Human, while the Star Wars live actions series swings in development hell.

NEWS: Cameron's Dirty Secret: Just a week ago, Sacha Baron Cohen was announced as an Oscar presenter. Now, suddenly, Baron Cohen has vanished from that list. Why is he gone from the show? Because one of the broadcast's producers was scared he might offend gazillionaire Best Director nominee James Cameron. An insider said that an Avatar sketch planned by Baron Cohen and Ben Stiller was nixed yesterday by show producer Bill Mechanic, who worried that Cameron would be so offended by it that he might even walk out of the Oscar broadcast on live TV. Baron Cohen planned to appear onstage as a blue-skinned, female Na’vi, with Stiller translating “her” interplanetary speech. As the skit went on, though, it would become clear that Stiller wasn’t translating properly, because Cohen would grow ever more upset. At its climax, an infuriated Baron Cohen would pull open “her” evening gown to reveal that s/he was pregnant, knocked up with Cameron’s love child, and would go on to confront her baby daddy as if s/he were on Jerry Springer.

NEWS: Lost Redux: According to Variety, Warner Bros. is working with the Atlas Entertainment production company to develop Gilligan's Island for the big screen. Brad Copeland is writing the screenplay, while the original producer of the TV show, Sherwood Schwartz, is on board to executive produce along side his son Lloyd Schwartz. The plan is to do a contemporary take on the story, and they hope for production to start next year. They will not lock in a director and cast until the script by Brad Copeland is complete.

NEWS: What About Pac-Man and Pong: According to the LA Times, Warner Bros. is currently negotiating with Japanese studio Taito to buy the rights to the video game, Space Invaders. If they acquire the rights, Mark Gordon, Jason Blum and Guymon Casady will produce the film. Those men have worked on such films as Saving Private Ryan, The Day After Tomorrow and Paranormal Activity. Space Invaders is the latest in the retro video game fad that has hit Hollywood, as Missile Command, Asteroids and possibly Pac-Man are looking to come to the big screen.

NEWS: BBC Cutback: Two radio stations, half of its online websites, and up to 600 jobs could go as the BBC gives details of the most radical cuts in its history. Kylie Morris reports. Gone are the days of expansion. Instead, Director-General Mark Thompson admitted the corporation should make “fewer things, better”. But unions have already warned of industrial action. A campaign to save 6 Music from the axe has already attracted tens of thousands of supporters. The scale of the cuts had been widely leaked over the weekend, but today the BBC confirmed that its digtal radio station 6 Music will be axed, along with the Asian Network. BBC Director-General Mark Thompson told Jon Snow that the "cuts" the BBC were making "are actually transfers into more money for children’s programmes and children’s content across the piece, more quality drama across BBC television, more money for BBC2 to do distinctive work.

NEWS: From Tiny Screen to Small Screen: Comedy Central has ordered a 10-episode first season of original comedy series "Workaholics," developed over the past year from the online series "5thyear." Kevin Etten ("Scrubs") will be showrunner of the series, premiering this summer and featuring Blake Anderson, Anders Holm and Adam Devine of Mail Order Comedy. Troupe-mate Kyle Newacheck will direct several episodes. "These guys have a unique comedic sensibility that they've applied to a very relatable experience -- that delicate time between college and becoming a responsible adult," said Kent Alterman, Comedy Central's head of original programming and production. "For me, that period lasted for decades."

NEWS: Live It, Write It: Nearly two years after acquiring Sascha Rothchild's L.A. Weekly cover story "How to Get Divorced by 30" as the basis for a romantic comedy, Universal has tapped Rothchild to adapt and exec produce. Studio had launched an exhaustive search to find a Hollywood scribe to pen the script, but in the end, U decided Rothchild would be best suited to adapt her own tale about the disintegration of her first marriage along with those of five friends. Article advised readers to try out a "starter marriage" before finding an ultimate mate and offered 15 steps to ending a first marriage; script will focus on a heroine who road-tests the "starter marriage" premise and then finds her perceptions redrawn by reality and relationships.

News sourced from imdb.com, digitalspy.co.uk, huffingtonpost.com, bbc.com, 411mania.com, guardian.co.uk/media, broadcastnow.co.uk, variety.com

COMCOMEDY UPDATE

Remember the doors are always open to great scripts.  ComComedy is particularly hot for comedy that has something to say and is not just aiming for a quick easy dirty laugh. 

Send scripts and pitches to scripts@comcomedy.com - if you have already sent something and are waiting for a reply, fear not we hope to clear the back log over the weekend.

Comcomedy on the web, on facebook, on twitter.

Product of the Week

When it comes to comedy in animation one man has the shoulders that many others stand upon. Chuck Jones is the man behind, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and many more. In his book Chuck Amuck you get a real insight in to creative process and how Chuck and his animators riled against their higher ups to create some of the most memorable cartoon. Published in 1989 this book has become quite hard to locate new, although Amazon some on sale through their market place sellers. Or you could enjoy this golden collection of cartoons with documentaries and commentary tracks.

For more great recommendations visit the LCW Library.

Writing Tip of the Week

JOKES OF THE WEEK
A man goes into a bar and says, "Give me a drink before the trouble starts." And the bartender pours him a drink. He drinks it and says, "Give me another drink before the trouble starts." He downs that one and says "give me another drink before the trouble starts." Finally, the bartender asks, "Just when is this trouble going to start?" The man says, "The trouble starts just as soon as I tell you that I don't have any money."

TRAILERS OF THE WEEK

Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning star in this music—fueled story of the ground—breaking, all girl, teenage rock band of the 1970s: The Runaways.

Arrested for a crime they didn't commit, the big screen adaptation of The A-Team looks set to be a series of creative action sequences...

The Last Airbender is the adventure of Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations.

WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE DOING

Event
ComComedy presents Spring Party. 
March's line up includes...Beta Males Picnic (On ComComedy), Daniel Simonsen, Don't Tell Jimmy, Frost N' Ireland (On ComComedy), Kieran Boyd, Frasier Millward.With Mc Dave Bibby.
Date: 11th March 2010
Comcomedy on the web, on facebook, on twitter.

Event
Laughing Cows Comedy Night - The Sell-Out Comedy Night With A Fabulous All-Female Line Up.
Date: 11th March 2010

Event
Join London Comedy Writers memeber Dudley Rees at the Genesis Cinema in London’s fashionable East End for alcoholic drinks, nibbles, ambiance followed by a late night showing of “Destination Bumrape” the new chill-ride from ForgeMastersFilms.
Date: 11th March 2010