Movie making is often an insane business. But moguls turn out to be pretty rational about it according to a chapter in an upcoming economics text and a recent article in an academic journal. Researchers say that studios wisely bet on stories and directors. Star worship “is all but a myth,” writes S. Abraham Ravid — a…

EXCLUSIVE: Film executive Franklin Leonard has maintained The Black List for the past six years to champion hundreds of talented screenwriters and unproduced scripts. Well over 125 screenplays have been made into movies, and they’re responsible for 20 Oscars and roughly $10 billion in worldwide grosses. Today Leonard…

After narrowing its development field to six scripts, which had been undergoing thorough evaluation for the past two months, AMC ultimately decided not to pick up any of them to pilot at this time. This does not mean that all six projects are dead. I hear that two of them, The Voyage and an untitled racing project…

What’s cooking at AMC? It’s the cable network’s second annual pilot script showcase called “bake-off,” which took place from Monday to Thursday this week at a hotel in Los Angeles. In it, six scripts identified by AMC brass as finalists for a pilot order faced off in a series of elaborate presentations, with the…

It wasn’t unprovoked. Actress Jessica Alba dissed screenwriters to Elle magazine. Here’s the posting from Big Fish and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory scripter John August’s blog: Oh, Jessica I have to believe she was misquoted, or excerpted in some unflattering way, because Jessica Alba couldn't have actually said…

Before Allan Loeb, screenwriter Stephen Shiff was the first writer on Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps which opened #1 this weekend. Now he’s left CAA for ICM. After writing for The New Yorker and reviewing films for NPR, Schiff started his screenwriting career by adapting Lolita and went on to write True Crime and Leat…

EXCLUSIVE: The writer/director Wachowski siblings have begun to invite actors to meet on their new film Cobalt Neural 9 about a taboo gay romance between an American and Iraqi soldier. But agents are telling me it has become yet another “top secret” project they and their actors can’t read. That means they can’t…

EXCLUSIVE: Fox 2000 has optioned the rights to the Lauren Oliver teen novel Before I Fall, with Maria Maggenti set to adapt it. The book brings a Groundhog Day approach to high school. A female student finds herself living what may be her last day on earth over and over, until she gets things right. Jon Shestack will…

Though the material market is summer sluggish, WME has managed the neat trick of closing in on three script deals this week, with another on the brink. The spec in play is Ion, a Will Dunn scifi script that has Channing Tatum attached, with Scott Free producing. Fox 2000 (Scott Free’s home studio) has made an offer…

Warner Bros is giving the Glen David Gold novel Carter Beats the Devil another chance to beat death by development hell. The studio has optioned the novel, and set Michael Gilio to write the script. Jon Shestack will produce, and Ginny Brewer and Jeremy Stein will also be involved as producers. The book weaves a tale…

WGAE president Michael Winship and WGAW president John Wells announced that members overwhelmingly approved amendments to the Screen and Television Credits Manuals that make it easier for hyphenates to get screen credit. On the movie side, 85.7% of membership (1237 yes votes, 197 no votes) approved a change where writ…

EXCLUSIVE: In a move that has writers and their reps buzzing, Warner Bros has just put out word that it will start to enforce delivery dates on first screenplay drafts. That means writers who signed contracts had better deliver on time, or risk the wrath of the studio. Deadlines are rarely enforced by studios, under…