Sure, it works for chick-lit, but can publishing sell on TV?
Last year's series "The Return of Jezebel James," which starred Parker Posey, followed newly single children's book editor Sarah Tompkins on her quest to conceive a baby. Blah, right? It only lasted a few episodes before Fox yanked it completely.But check out this news from yesterday's Hollywood Reporter:
In a competitive situation, CBS has landed a hot multicamera comedy script by "Will & Grace" alumna Gail Lerner.
The project, which will be produced by Warner Bros. TV, has received a pilot commitment. Tentatively titled "Open Books," it revolves around book editor June and her circle of friends.
"Open Books," huh? Writer characters work well for TV series (look at the infamous Carrie Bradshaw), but what about editors? And I'm not talking about magazine editors. No no. Magazines have long been a staple career location for many a chick lit book and film character.
What is it about books that people shy away from? There were book editor characters (an
d main characters, I might add) in Emily Giffin's Baby Proof and Lauren Weisberger's Chasing Harry Winston. However, both examples are chick lit. Newspaper journalists have also long-been featured in books and even movies. Think Meg Ryan's Annie Reed in Sleepless in Seattle or... Meg Ryan's Sally Albright in When Harry Met Sally. Though perhaps it's a trend of the 1980s, you may want to argue. Not true. Albeit adapted from a chick-lit book, Rebecca Bloomwood from Confessions of a Shopaholic was also--you guessed it--a journalist, though she wrote for magazines, and 1996's Up Close and Personal has Michelle Pfeiffer as an aspiring TV journalist. Oh, I could go on and on. But there just aren't that many films or TV shows, or even books, featuring female book editors.According to THR:
"It's an ensemble comedy with a female lead set in the publishing world, but it's really about the characters and their relationships,"...
Could this be a turning point for the book-editor-as-protagonist in entertainment?
Or will it be yet another T
V show dead on arrival? Only time will tell. One of the nails in the coffin of this show may be its airing on vanilla network CBS. While the American female population is still clambering for a "Sex and the City" replacement (which is why they're currently filming the second film!), this blogger thinks "Open Books" ought to be filed on another network's shelf...like Showtime or HBO. Book editing is boring enough in real life, so how dull will it be without an editor cringing when her publisher screams the F-word down the hall at her? (Believe me, I used to work there--those were some of the most interesting moments.) I guess there's always secret co-worker sex in the office bathrooms. (Yeah, that happened too. ... Not to me, you perv!) If anything, publishing is a gossipy industry. So here's hoping there's plenty of that in this show. Maybe "Open Books" will add some much-needed spice to CBS, though I still think it's the completely wrong network for this type of show.
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1 comments:
This reminds me of a very sad film adapatation of a very fabulous book. Melissa Banks" GIRLS' GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING.
It's a wonderful novel about a young book editor as she claws her way through the industry and, naturally, an unhealthy relationship.
It worked great as a book, but as soon as it was translated into film--the horribly titled "Suburban Girl"--it flopped. It's hard to say though if that was due to the publishing theme or the terribly cast Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin. It's a toss-up.
-Danielle, Reading Between the Lines
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