Girls wrote their deepest secrets and most passionate experiences in journals and poems. Boys harnessed their inner Springsteen – crafting custom mix tapes and plucking out simple chord songs to their killer lyrics. CRINGE invites readers – armed with journals, mix tapes, and early songwriting attempts – to share their teenage selves with one another and the audience at home. A laugh riot, the readers reveal their most intimate, humiliating, and CRINGE worthy moments.

Think you have the material to make the cut? Check it out.

While you’re there, check out the Press on the Original CRINGE – Sarah Brown’s monthly reading series at Freddy’s Bar & Backroom in Brooklyn.

Read her brilliant website QueSeraSera and keep a look out for Sarah’s new book, CRINGE.

The TV movie, in development at Nickelodeon, is written by Jim Krieg (”PS 88 Blue”). Get ready for a singing and dancing extravaganza!

Our favorite fat, fearless redhead Zoe is headed to the small screen with her friends Wonka Boy, Plum Sweater, and foe Cherry Bitch along for the ride.

Writer/Executive Producer Jon Bernstein (MEET THE ROBINSONS, BEAUTIFUL) and Executive Producer Matt Dearborn (”Beyond the Break,” “Even Stevens”) have created a fanastic show based on the book and Jon is writing the pilot. The one hour drama is being developed for the CW network in production with CBS Paramount Television Studios.

Julian F. Thompson’s groundbreaking, best selling, cult classic.

Fasten your seat belts; this gets pretty rough. Your parents sent you to Coldbrook Country School to have you killed.

None of the members of Group 6 chose Coldbrook Country School for themselves. It was chosen for them by their parents. So when they were told to hike to a rough campsite deep in the woods as part of orientation, they didn’t ask questions. But Nat Rittenhouse, the assigned orientation leader, hadn’t exactly chosen Coldbrook either. His job was not to teach the members of Group 6 — it was to make sure they never came out of the woods alive. Who would have thought their own parents were footing the bill?

Fri Aug 18th 2006 at 4:18 am ET

Aldrich in real deal for ‘Son”

By Sheigh Crabtree

LOS ANGELES - Warner Bros. Pictures-based Alcon Entertainment has hired Matthew Aldrich to adapt the Elaine Marie Alphin novel “Counterfeit Son.”

Aldrich signed a six-figure deal to adapt Alphin’s thriller about a young man who tries to con a family out of their deceased son’s trust fund.

Producer Jessica Horowitz brought the Hartcourt Book imprint to Alcon senior vp development Steven Wegner, who will oversee with creative exec Jesse Israel.

“We always loved the book’s premise, and Matthew has taken it to a new level.,” Wegner said.

Alson’s co-presidents Broderick Johnson and Andrew Cosgrive with produce.

Alcon’s upcoming slate includes “One Missed Call,” starring Edward Burns and Shannyn Sossamon; and “P.S. I Love You,” starring Hilary Swank and set to begin filming next month in New York.

Alrich wrote “Cleaner” and “The Spinning Man” for producer Steve Golin.

He is repped by Amy Schiffman at Gersh, Jewel Ross at Silent R Management and attorney Jamie Feldman.

A brilliantly written and precociously perceptive teen memoir, this book originally published in short form by a small press when the author was 14. The complete work, Zoe’s coming-of-age diary ranting and raving through a year of high school, was published by HarperCollins in 2003.

Zoe’s entries chronicle her tortured search for truth in love and art, her faltering faith in the value of activism in the face of universal apathy, and her bottomless disdain for just about every figure and fixture in her high school life. The language is undeniably raw — a hip mixture of bold statement, cyberesque shorthand, and stream-of-consciousness prose. Her frank accounts of her transgender search for the perfect kiss and her first girlfriend who becomes her first boyfriend will surely shock certain audiences, but also speaks sincerely to the tortured misfits who need to know that they are not alone.

I wrote a story about you. Well, sort of, see, it’s mostly about me. Well, entirely about me, but here’s the catch: I’m you. No, really, I mean it. Not like that transcendentalism stuff we’re learning in English class, but really, truly, I’m you. I know what it feels like when your heart beats so hard against your white bone ribs, when you sing in the shower with soap in your eyes, when you run until you get a side ache. I wrote this story about you because I am so in love with you, your broken-fence teeth and your tissue-paper scars. I love you when you’re so exhausted it could topple you to the ground, so in love it could snap guitar strings, so sickly sweet it could make lips smile. This is a reckless love story. This is my shameless confession.

Also, check out Zoe’s own blog!

Now that seventh grader Griff Carter is at their school, neither hall patrol or PS 88 will never be the same again. Writer/Executive Producer Jim Krieg (”Monk,” “Clueless”) created the fun family comedy and is writing the pilot for Nickelodeon.

Elaine Marie Alphin’s Edgar Allan Poe Award Winner for Best Young Adult Mystery

The award winning young adult novel tells this haunting thriller from the perspective of fourteen-year-old Cameron Miller – who is pretending to be someone he isn’t. When Cameron’s father was killed resisting arrest, Cameron decided to pass himself off as Neil Lacey, one of the boys Pop had abducted. It was the only way Cameron could think of to distance himself from what Pop had done, to him, and to the other boys. It was the only escape he could imagine from his nightmarish existence.

Cameron thought it would be easy at first – playing the rich kid, sailing his own boat, as he’d always dreamed. But he hadn’t counted on Pop’s old accomplice, Cougar, getting out of prison. When Cougar tracks Cameron down, he presents an ultimatum: share the wealth or be exposed. But Cameron has grown to love the Lacey family – Neil’s mother who hugs and his father who listens instead of hits, even Neil’s prickly, suspicious sister and his spunky little brother.

Cameron wishes he could be part of Neil’s family for real, but he decides that he must give up his new identity or his desperate search for a new life will destroy the family he has grown to love.

Mon., Jun. 6, 2005, 10:00pm PT

Cinderella shows

By JOSEF ADALIAN
Emmy voters looking to shake up the reality races certainly have plenty of choices.

There are more than 20 never-nommed skeins eligible for the reality competition category this year. In the noncompetitive category, the potential for surprise is even greater: “Project Greenlight” is the only show with multiple noms back in the hunt.

Here’s a look at four shows that stood out from the pack this year, even as they flew under the buzz radar:

THE ROAD TO STARDOM WITH MISSY ELLIOTT (UPN)

Hardly anyone noticed this street-smart search for a superstar, and it’s no wonder: Most of its episodes aired around the same time “American Idol” began its fourth season.

Those who did tune in, however, saw a show that took the “Idol” concept, flipped it and reversed it (as host Elliott might put it). While “Idol” takes its sweet time, “Missy” took multitalented diamonds in the rough and immediately put them to work on Elliott’s tour bus. Taking the contenders into the real world produced true drama while presenting a much more raw and realistic depiction of the path to fame. While she didn’t have a memorable catchphrase like “You’re fired,” Elliott was as compelling as Donald Trump as the final arbiter of each round.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jessica Betts, a 24-year-old writer from Chicago, was crowned the winner in the live television finale of UPN’s dramality series THE ROAD TO STARDOM WITH MISSY ELLIOTT. The three remaining performers had an emotional final meeting with the judges and professional makeover before leaping on stage to perform before a live studio audience. While all three vocalists gave impressive performances during the show, Missy had to choose one winner, and Jessica took the title.

In Wednesday night’s finale, Jessica, Matthew Buckner and Deltrice Thorner individually met with the judges to review their experiences on the road, discuss their status as one of the final three performers and explore what they might do with their celebrity status if picked to be the winner. Then, each challenger faced the spotlight and sang for the judges, possibly the last time.

Finally, the finalists hit the stage before a live television audience to perform a remixed version of the series theme song “Get on The Bus” with their 10 previously eliminated challengers. After host Vanessa Minnillo (”TRL”) introduced the judges and caught up briefly with some of the former participants, Missy selected Matthew, who presented his original song “Girls in the Club.” Then, Vanessa explained that either Jessica or Deltrice would perform while the other would be eliminated. Feeling generous, Missy decided that both women should sing their songs. Deltrice sang her song “Six in the Morning,” playing up to the judges. Then, Jessica belted out a heartfelt rendition of “Why Me?”

In the end, as the trio held hands, the spotlight fell on Jessica, announcing to the world that she was Missy’s choice as winner.

As the winner of THE ROAD TO STARDOM WITH MISSY ELLIOTT, Jessica has been awarded a record contract with Missy’s label, a released single and $100,000.