Allan Duffin - Writer/Producer

Dancing at the movies: just pure fun

Reposting this great video via Ken Levine's blog:

Definitely Right On Track

Some songs just stick in your head. Breakfast Club's 1987 hit "Right On Track" is a bouncy pop number about a guy that's trying to impress a girl by showing off his dance skills. Problem is, every time he busts a move, she's looking in the other direction or moving away from him. I've always loved this tune, from Dan Gilroy's smooth voice to the insistent beat to lines like, "How far away can you go -- and still be dancing with me?" Did the guy ever get the girl to notice him? Maybe.

Fun fact: Lead singer Dan Gilroy is now a screenwriter and is married to actress Rene Russo.

"Lost" ends, but Michael Giacchino's music goes on

Whether you found "Lost" fascinating or frustrating (or both),  you have to give kudos to one of the series' key components: its music. Composer Michael Giacchino's evocative score gave the show a heartbeat that was sometimes tearjerking and sometimes terrifying. The Los Angeles Times just ran a story about Giacchino, who talked about his childhood love of film music:

"I made my dad buy me the soundtrack album, because in those days, the only way to relive the experience of the film was to get the soundtrack. I'd sneak tape recorders into movie theaters, record the sounds of the movies and then listen to them at night on a little speaker I'd rigged up in bed by my pillow. I was always into the story that a film told, and sometimes the soundtrack album would take everything out of order. So I made my own tapes, so I could always be sure to hear the story in the right sequence."

I love to read about childhood dreams that blossom into adult professions. This is why I'm a writer today.

You can check out Giacchino's music at his website, which has tons of sample tracks. Meanwhile, if you haven't seen this funny video about the unanswered questions of "Lost," here you go:

(This video came from College Humor.)

Harlan Glenn's "Battle Rats" on the Military Channel

Catch Harlan Glenn's new TV show "Battle Rats: Iwo Jima," a one-hour pilot for a proposed series, this month on the Military Channel. I've been fortunate to work with Harlan on a number of TV programs over the years, and it's thrilling to see his new show come together. Congratulations Harlan! Here's a trailer for the show:

Not Over "The Wire"

I wish, how I wish, that "The Wire" got its due. Last night's Emmys really should have recognized this show for its energetic, multi-layered storytelling, compelling characters and gritty location shooting. I'm glad that HBO saw fit to let the show run for five years.

Created by journalist-turned-writer/producer David Simon — whose book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets inspired NBC's classic 1990s Baltimore cop show "Homicide: Life On the Street" — "The Wire" asked tough questions about today's society.

The show took a hard look at how politics, economics, business and government meshed with daily life for Baltimore cops, union members, educators, journalists, gang leaders and others. Because the series featured multiple plotlines that crisscrossed repeatedly over its five-year run, it's difficult to describe "The Wire" in ten words or less. A cop show? At its heart, sure. But at its best, the series was a realistic though fictionalized examination of the fabric of inner-city life — an indictment against greed and corruption, and a call for us to pay attention to the slow, painful deterioration of formerly thriving communities.

Ken Levine's "Where to Find Writers"

Television writer/director/producer Ken Levine has a hilarious entry in his blog about where you can find writers around Los Angeles. Here's a snippet from the article, about a deli that I've been to many times:

ART’S DELICATESSEN – Studio City. The San Fernando Valley equivalent of Nate N’ Al’s. Close to CBS Radford with oversized artery clogging triple deck sandwiches that include pastrami AND chopped liver. The one-time popular haunt of all the MTM writers so it’s kind of a shrine.

Read the entire blog entry here. You'll be laughing all the way through.

I don't usually hang out at Starbucks or other coffee places when I'm writing. I don't like coffee, for one thing. But I also tend to write more effectively when I'm ensconced in my office, maybe with some tunes going in the background. I can concentrate better that way.

They say that writers are observers, people-watchers. You never know what real-life characters you'll meet when you're out and about. Because there's so much colorful stuff going on around me at a place like Starbucks, I get distracted from my writing.

So when I do visit a coffee shop, it's usually to have coffee a refreshing beverage and talk with my wife or some friends. And scribble ideas down in a notepad. Or if I forgot my notepad (which happens often), I use a napkin. Then all I need to do is remember not to use the napkin to wipe my mouth, and then take the napkin home. Then not throw it away by mistake. Take it to my desk, and... maybe I need to stop writing on napkins.

A reality TV series about tow truck drivers? Sure!

I've written feature articles for Towing & Recovery Footnotes, the journal of the towing industry, for a couple of years. As with other industries, you often hear about towers in the news when something goes wrong, instead of hearing about all the positive things they do for people on the road. So it's been a privilege to interview towers across the country and tell stories about how they save lives, effect death-defying rescues, and train and care for their employees.

Since the tube is loaded with reality shows about everything from doctors to fashion designers to home repairers to lumberjacks, it was only a matter of time before somebody followed a family of tow truck operators around with a camera. And here it is: SpeedTV premieres "Wrecked" this July.

Accidents happen. Cleaning up the mess isn’t for the faint of heart. Be on the scene with the crew from O’Hare Towing as they put their lives on the double-yellow line. Meet Chicago’s toughest towing family living life in the crash lane. Ride with the brave crew of O’Hare towing. Hear real stories. Witness real danger. Discover the untold side of the business of towing and get hooked on WRECKED, Life in the Crash Lane. Premiering July 17th, exclusively on SPEED.

Regardless of how you feel about the growth of reality TV—personally, I find it a mixed blessing—some of these programs have shown us the "inside scoop" about people and places that we might otherwise have overlooked. So I give a lot of credit to Speed for letting us into the world of the tow truck company. It's a lot more exciting and interesting than you might think!

"The Middleman" TV series premieres Monday June 16 on ABC Family

Javier Grillo-Marxuach's TV script-turned-comic book-turned TV series "The Middleman" premieres on ABC Family this coming Monday, June 16 at 8pm. What is it? According to Grillo-Marxuach:

“the middleman” is an ABC FAMILY original television series based on the comic books created and written by javier grillo-marxuach (emmy award-winning producer, and writer for tv’s “lost,” “medium” and “boomtown”) illustrated by eisner-award nominee les mcclaine (creator of “johnny crossbones” and “highway 13”) and published by viper comics.

"...an over-the-top, sixteen-car-pileup-sugar-popped-cereal-bowl of a series that's not afraid to be everything your mother warned you about television: a cartoonishly extreme, randomly fantastic, special-effects laden, three-fisted walking-and-talking toy-line advertisement of an action-adventure-sci-fi comic book in which the fabric of reality barely survives in the end, and the journey invariably reveals a completely surreal strangeness behind everything we hold to be true.”

If you can't wait 'til airtime, iTunes offers the pilot episode as a free download.

"Lost" meets "Indiana Jones"

Nikki Finke posted this at Deadline Hollywood Daily, and I couldn't resist bringing it to your attention. Action figures and fun parody of "Lost."

Ben Cain, Actor

Here's the demo reel for an actor friend, Ben Cain. His latest TV appearance was on USA Network's "Monk," and he's also been seen on "Heroes" and "Without A Trace." Ben also does a lot of stage work, including plays with The Actors' Gang, the group founded by Tim Robbins. You can check out Ben's website here.