I always kind of thought that Tim Meadows deserved to be way more famous than he is; but, I guess his brand of humor just never really caught on. Instead, Meadows just keeps steadily working on projects that, for the most part, seem kind of beneath him. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Meadows is set to star in They Came from Upstairs with High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale.

The family-friendly film centers on a group of teens who fend off an alien invasion that seems to be originating from the second floor of their vacation home -- sure it sounds silly, but then again, it is a kid's movie. Meadows has slummed it before in plenty of family-friendly flicks, so it's not a big surprise to see his name in the credits of another kiddie movie. At least with some of his work in teen comedies, he has the chance to be a little more 'risqué'.

The original spec script for Upstairs was written by Mark Burton (Madagascar and Wallace and Gromit) and was purchased back in 2006 by 20th Century Fox for $1.75 million. So, I guess they are banking on the film to pull in a tidy profit at the box-office. Luckily for them, securing Tisdale in the lead guarantees legions of tweens on opening day, so I think that their investment is going to pay off. Meadows will play Sheriff Doug Armstrong, but I doubt most of the audience for this movie will get to truly appreciate the comic mind that created Leon Phelps. They Came from Upstairs is set for release on January 16th, 2009.

Welcome back to The Write Stuff! I'm thrilled that there is such a strong interest in screenwriting out there. Thank you all so much for your comments last week, both here and on my site. All of your questions and comments will be addressed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned and keep them coming!

The first interview for the column is with red-hot screenwriter Adam F. Goldberg. Adam is living the dream. He writes for both television and film, and his upcoming movie projects include Fanboys, the live-action Jetsons movie, and They Came from Upstairs. Cinematical spoke with the incredibly busy Goldberg about his scripts, his process, and Goonies: The Musical.

Cinematical: You said you were being "enslaved by a director," what are you working on? And should I call the authorities?

Adam F. Goldberg: Perhaps call them for my hacky writing! It's called They Came From Upstairs for Fox. It's a family movie, kinda like Gremlins -- but with aliens. The spec was written by Mark Burton and was sold for like $1.7 mil. I believe I am making about .0001212 of that. It's been a really cool project. The movie was in pre-production and the studio realized the script wasn't ready and shut it down pretty late in the game. I came aboard to get the train back on the tracks which is always high pressure and very difficult to do. I handed in 40 pages and they re-greenlit the movie and we're casting and location scouting now. I'm on draft two currently, working next to the director and bringing his vision into it.

Cinematical: Is that an awkward process at all -- being brought in to re-write a fellow writer? Do you ever run into hurt feelings or bruised egos? I guess the $1.7 million makes the pill easier to swallow.

AFG: Well, I come from the TV world, writing on sitcoms and that's very collaborative. You have to sit in the room and watch 10 other writers tear apart your script right in front of you. That bruises your ego. As for movies, more often than not a writer can only go so far and it's your job to bat clean up. It's never a great feeling to have your screenplay rewritten, but hopefully you've moved onto your next project, so it doesn't sting so much. And believe me, that $1.7 payday is like winning the lottery. I hope I can sell a spec one day. I've had little luck in that department.

Mark Burton has been hired by Warner Bros. to write the feature film adaptation of James Turner's comic book Rex Libris. The comic is about "an everyday guy who becomes part of a secret sect of librarians who battle forces of darkness in chasing down overdue or stolen books." Seriously! The "comedic action-adventure" will focus on head librarian Rex Libris, a man "who must protect the world's knowledge and most dangerous secrets from falling into the wrong hands." When a squad of punks storm the library and remove a certain card from the catalog, the library's walls collapse and a secret stack of books is revealed, which apparently leads the crew on a string of global and intergalactic adventures. I've said it before and I'll say it again: You don't mess with the Dewey Decimal System.

Rex and the other librarians have a huge array of high-tech weapons, but they are also helped by an ancient god who lives underneath the library. Geez, haven't we seen this story enough? Variety doesn't mention whether the film will be animated or live action, but Burton wrote Madagascar and worked on Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, so using context clues I'm assuming it'll be a cartoon. Hopefully they don't try to sneak in some message about how kids should read and use their imaginations and crap like that. I've got to tell you, reading the synopsis, I thought of the perfect man to join Rex's team: Bookman, the Library Cop from Seinfeld! "I don't judge a man by the length of his hair or the kind of music he listens to. Rock was never my bag. But you put on a pair of shoes when you walk into the New York Public Library, fella!"