Joss's overall deal lapsed a few years ago. Anything he's signed recently with Fox is Dollhouse-specific. Hence his non-presence in this list of people with overall deals.

Gordon Comstock | January 18, 21:20 CET

Tim's still covered - I'm delighted to see that.

Thanks, Chris - good find...

QuoterGal | January 18, 21:28 CET

wait...30 Rock? Dirty Sexy Money? Brothers and Sisters? I thought that these shows were doing OK in the ratings.

Sad about Scrubs although I knew that was coming, but Aliens and America! NOOOOO! That makes me very sad!!

Harmalicious | January 18, 21:42 CET

I thought this was a list of deals that were show-specific, though? So why wouldn't they include Dollhouse? Is it because they couldn't get any further than ordering the episodes?

Odd that they're including this, since it was canceled...

" 20th Greg Yaitanes executive producer DRIVE FOX one-year, unknown figure 4/4/06 1/14/08"

Other than that, BSG and Burn Notice are still good to go, although Scrubs is still an unsure thing. And that makes me happy. Not the Scrubs bit, though.

ShamelessSingingRennie | January 18, 21:45 CET

Dang. If I'm reading this right, both Medium and Women's Murder Club were canceled. :(. Women's Murder Club was just getting its feet under it, and Medium has always been great.

Wolf | January 18, 21:50 CET

What a great website. Ill keep this one bookmarked and check in all the time to find out things about all my favorite shows. Thanks heaps for this link!

Beren77 | January 18, 21:53 CET

Just because a person associated with the show is being shown the door, it doesn't necessarily mean the show is being axed.

zeitgeist | January 18, 21:55 CET

So, the Overall Deals are being cancelled, but not the shows themselves.

If I understand correctly (and surely soemone can put me right, otherwise) the Overall Deals ensure anything the writer works on during the time period covered by the deal goes to the company who made the deal with said writer.

The question is, will the writers with cancelled Overall Deals still work their currently running shows (once the strike is over, of course)?

[ edited by Love's Bitch on 2008-01-18 19:17 ]

Love's Bitch | January 18, 22:16 CET

So just to be clear, this is purely people and doesn't necessarily say anything about the shows themselves ? Cool, fewer shocks to the system in that case.

(though i'd assume that shows where all the producers have been let go are probably on pretty shaky ground)

Saje | January 18, 22:53 CET

Most of the time development deals are not for specific shows so don't infer that shows are being canceled from this list. Tim is listed with K Ville, but that doesn't mean anything either. The website linked compiled this from press releases. It is a great list, but you shouldn't read too much into it.

TamaraC | January 18, 23:03 CET

It seems to be dev deals and not show specific, but anyone who knows for sure, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Also as far as worrying about 30 Rock or another specific show, seeing two executive producers who aren't Tina Fey get their deals axed doesn't make me lose any sleep.

zeitgeist | January 18, 23:11 CET

OK, this makes me feel better then. Still some hope for Aliens in America! And I enjoyed Women's Murder Club too. Hoping it all works out!

[ edited by Harmalicious on 2008-01-18 21:31 ]

Harmalicious | January 18, 23:32 CET

Love's Bitch has it right. Basically, a studio will pay overhead operating expenses (office, supplies, money for rights to existing stories, support staff, sometimes a salary) for a writer in exchange for first look rights for their story ideas and scripts. Just because someone doesn't have a development deal doesn't mean they can't sell their pilots or continue to write for existing shows. The studio just doesn't have "rights" to that particular writer's new ideas anymore.

Writers without development deals pay for their office and support staff by themselves or by way of a production company that they start. But then they're free agents -- they can sell the idea or script to whoever they want -- which is only a good thing if studios want their projects. A development deal is definitely cushy and nice, but by no means necessary or standard.

This is what Nikki Finke predicted before the strike even started: the studios were going to use the strike as a way to cancel deals they no longer wanted. I thought it was ludicrous then, but nothing surprises me now. The money they save from canceling deals is minuscule compared to the money lost from stopped or scrapped productions.

orphea | January 19, 00:32 CET

Umm I'm a bit upset that a few from Journeyman were terminated...that can't be a good thing for the show..

kballgetlost | January 19, 02:04 CET

I thought Journeyman was already canceled. I wouldn't hold out too much hope for this one. The back nine was never ordered.

TamaraC | January 19, 02:43 CET

Yeah, they "didn't exercise their option" for the back nine which, while not an official cancellation, is as good as I reckon. Shame, brilliant show.

Saje | January 19, 03:12 CET

Gordon Comstock, Joss' deal with 20th Century Fox did not lapse - both 20th and Joss opted to put it on hold a few years ago. It recently resumed.

gossi | January 19, 04:13 CET

ShamelessSingingRennie

"Odd that they're including this, since it was canceled...

" 20th Greg Yaitanes executive producer DRIVE FOX one-year, unknown figure 4/4/06 1/14/08""

Try and think about it... if it was cancled why should they keep paying for him? Now they got rid of him.

Pumps | January 20, 18:09 CET