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LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
Looking to keep track of all the various projects in development? Click here to visit our signature "Devwatch" section. There visitors can view our listings by network, genre, studio and even development stage (ordered to pilot, cast-contingent, script, etc.). It's updated every day!
ASK-ELIZABETH (MTV, New!) - The cable channel is developing a new unscripted project based on Elizabeth Berkley and her husband Greg Lauren's web site of the same name. Said destination, which launched in 2006, features a library of video content intended to help empower girls worldwide. MTV's News & Docs division is shepherding the TV incarnation, which is expected to shoot a pilot this fall. The series then would feature Berkley as she facilities her workshops in schools and for organizations around the world.
CROSSROADS (FX, New!) - Laurence Malkin and Chad Thumann ("Five Fingers") have landed a script commitment from the cable channel for a high-action cop show "set in the modern-day wild, wild West," according to Variety. The project, additional details of which remain under wraps, then is set up at Warner Horizon Television and McG's Wonderland Sound and Vision with McG executive producing.
DIRTY SEXY MONEY (ABC) - Matthew Gross has inked a three-year, seven-figure overall deal with ABC Studios. The pact calls for the non-writing producer to continue to oversee day-to-day production on "Dirty Sexy Money" as well as develop new series projects for the studio. Gross's self-titled banner is behind such TV efforts as "Day Break" and such films as "Across the Universe."
SAMANTHA WHO? (ABC) - Co-creator/executive producer Donald Todd has inked a new two-year overall deal with ABC Studios. The pact covers his duties as showrunner of the Alphabet comedy as well as any development during said period.
SCREAM QUEENS (VH1) - Shawnee Smith ("Saw") has been tapped to host the upcoming reality series, which will give 10 unknown actresses a shot at winning a "major role" in a Lionsgate horror movie. Writer/director/producer James Gunn ("Slither") has also come aboard the project, where he'll direct the contestants' performances. The pair join the previously cast John Homa, who serves as the contestants' acting coach. Biagio Messina, Dave Hamilto, Jeff Olde, Jim Ackerman and Joke Fincioen are executive producing the eight-episode series, which is set to roll out this fall.
TELL ME YOU LOVE ME (HBO) - The pay channel has pulled the plug on its previously planned second season of the sexually explicit drama, about the lives of three couples undergoing counseling. "Given the considerable amount of time that has passed and despite the best efforts of everyone involved, we were unable to find the direction of the show for the second season," creator/executive producer Cynthia Mort said in a statement released to the press. "There are so many other stories to tell and many other ways to tell them. I look forward to doing that with HBO in the future." HBO's West Coast president Michael Lombardo added: "We really feel Cynthia has an important voice that belongs on HBO and we look forward to the next show she will create for us." The network originally picked up the show's second season back in October (read the story), despite an average audience of 910,000 total viewers at the time.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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