Ray Richmond is an AwardsLine contributor This year’s crop of Emmy nominees in writing for drama series, comedy series, and movie/miniseries/special include a good mix of first-time nominees, including Lena Dunham for HBO's Girls and Amy Poehler for NBC's Parks and Recreation. But the real question is, which of the…

Lily Collins, Logan Lerman, Nat Wolff, Liana Liberato, and Kristen Bell have joined the cast of Writers, a comedy-drama starring Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly. Josh Boone wrote the script and is making his feature directing debut on the film, which begins shooting next week in North Carolina. Judy Cairo of…

Thursday night’s lively Emmy-nominee cocktail reception for the writers branch at the Television Academy was the 20th nightly peer group gathering taking place there during the past month, “an incredible pre-Emmy marathon,” said writers branch co-governor Margaret Nagle, who gave special mention to the Academy’s…

It wasn’t on DreamWorks Animation’s updated release slate that came out earlier this month (that ends with How To Train Your Dragon 2 in June 2014), but Megamind writers Brent Simons and Alan J. Schoolcraft have been tapped to develop a movie starring the penguins from the studio’s Madagascar franchise. The flightless…

Washington, DC – The Writers Guild of America, West called on regulators today to impose strict guidelines on the proposed merger of Comcast-NBCU in order to protect competition, ensure the value of creative product, and to promote broadcast and cable program diversity and independence. In its filing to the Federal…

LOS ANGELES – The Writers Guild of America, West's Nominating Committee has announced its initial list of candidates for the 2010 Board of Directors election. There are 18 candidates nominated to run for eight open seats on the WGAW's Board of Directors, as follows: Robin Schiff, David Shore, David A. Goodman (inc.)…

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…

I hear that Chris Hart, whose contract was coming up at ICM and signaled he wanted to leave, is UTA-bound. Meanwhile, I’ve learned about an interesting tiff between UTA and WME — or, more specifically, Jim Berkus and Robert Newman. Napoleon Dynamite writer/director Jared Hess and his screenwriting partner/wife Jerusha…

Fanboys screenwriter Ernie Cline scored a mid-six figure advance from Random House for North American rights to Ready Player One, his debut young adult novel. International rights are being shopped, and the movie crowd will be kicking the tires on it starting tomorrow Farah Films & Management’s Dan Farah and Foundry…

Publisher Little, Brown tells me Stephenie Meyer's novella "for the fans" has sold 226,589 copies so far in the UK. Waterstones, the largest bookshop chain, expects it to be the biggest-selling book of the year. The £11:99 ($17.8) Twilight novella is mostly selling at less than half price, mostly due to heavy…

NEW YORK CITY – The Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO (WGAE) announced the nominees for its Council (order determined by lot*) today. The term is for two years: 2010 – 2012. There are 10 open Council seats (six Freelance seats and four Staff seats) for this election. The 21 candidates for the six open Freelance…