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Monday, December 04, 2006

You too can make it in Hollywood!


There's a new Hollywood success story that's giving new life to an old Hollywood myth-- that with enough spunk and talent, anyone can break into the industry-- and you don't even need the Internet to get there (though it helps). This is very similar to the story of Ed Burns and The Brothers McMullen or the time Harvey Weinstein bought PJ Sloan's bar for the bartender who wrote Boondock Saints. And it's got a Tabloid Baby connection.

This one is from the CW network, which is almost Hollywood and is developing a new show to fill the hole left when Melrose Place went off the air. The Wilton is a one-hour dramedy about the relationships, sex lives, hopes, sex lives, dreams, sex lives, work and sex lives of a group of twenty-somethings who all live in a building in Hollywood.

A couple of young brothers, actors Ben and Dan Newmark, have sold a show to the CW network. The Wilton is a one-hour dramedy about the relationships, sex lives, hopes, sex lives, dreams, sex lives, work and sex lives of a group of twenty-somethings who all live in a building in Hollywood. The brothers did it the old-fashioned way. They wrote the script based on their time living in a house off the real Wilton Place (which is about five miles and cranked about five degrees in seediness from Melrose Place in West Hollywood). They and their friends produced and starred in a homemade pilot called The Wilton Hilton, and then they got more friends who worked in PR to generate some buzz. After they invited junior agents and talent agency assistants to a screening at the Pacific Theatre in Hollywood, CAA moved in, signed up the brothers, hooked them up, and the CW bit.

Of course, before the studios went with the project, the boys were matched with old school heavyweights, including Warner Brothers, CBS Paramount, music kingpin (and Mariah Carey's ex-husband) Tommy Mottola's company to produce and, as show runner and executive producer, the legendary Peter Lefcourt.

Lefcourt is no kid, but an acclaimed writer whose TV credits go back as far as Eight Is Enough and Cagney & Lacey. He created and wrote Showtime's legendary Beggars & Choosers, is author of some very funny books, and a couple of years ago, was attached to the team that's working to turn Tabloid Baby into a drama series.

Check out the original Wilton Hilton website for more on the show.

And stay tuned here for the latest on Tabloid Baby, and Frozen Pictures' latest series project, The Venice Walk.

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