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[10/13/11 - 10:48 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, October 13
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
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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!
CONFESSIONS OF A CONTRACTOR (FOX) - Richard Murphy's novel - "a soap about the combustible mix that results when you blend desire, jealousy, and home renovation" - is being redeveloped by the network. Tom Spezialy ("Chaos") is spearheading the project, which has a script commitment plus a penalty attached, and will executive produce alongside Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick for 20th Century Fox Television. CBS previously took a stab at the property in 2008, which Murphy penned under the supervision of Shawn Ryan. (Deadline.com)
DOUCHEBAG (CBS, New!) - Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst is set to star in a potential comedy at the Eye about "a rock legend looking for balance between his high profile lifestyle and trying to raise a family." Matthew Carlson ("Mr. Sunshine") is penning the half-hour and will executive produce alongside Eric and Kim Tannenbaum for CBS Television Studios. Durst and his manager John Schneider will also receive producing credits. (Deadline.com)
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (HBO, New!) - Screenwriter Lisa Cholodenko is developing a small screen take on the Oscar-nominated film, about "same-sex partners, their son and daughter and the biological father of the kids/sperm donor who surfaces and tears the family apart." Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg likewise received Oscar nominations, as did co-stars Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo. It's understood the TV incarnation - an hour-long drama - will continue the adventures of the five main characters however no other specifics were given. Antidote Films' Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Gilbert Films' Gary Gilbert and Maven Pictures' Celine Rattray then will executive produce alongside Cholodenko. (Deadline.com)
LATE BLOOMER'S REVOLUTION (ABC, New!) - Amy Cohen ("Spin City") is looking to bring her memoir of the same name, about "a father and daughter who are both trying to navigate the dating world at the same time after the passing of the respective wife and mother," to the small screen. The multi-camera comedy, which has a script commitment at ABC, comes from Warner Bros. Television and Alloy Entertainment with Michelle Nader, Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo also serving as executive producers. (THR.com)
LOW WINTER SUN (AMC, New!) - Endemol USA is looking to import the U.K. drama - "the modern gothic tale of murder, high-level corruption, deception and cold-blooded revenge in which the difference between cop and criminal is anything but straightforward" - at the cable channel. BBC America aired the original incarnation, from writer Simon Donald and director Adrian Shergold, in 2007. Endemol's Jeremy Gold then will executive produce alongside a yet-to-be-determined writer. (THR.com)
MERRY GO ROUND (FOX, New!) - Steve Faber ("Wedding Crashers") has booked a new semi-autobiographical comedy at the network about "five inseparable best friends in college (two women and three men) who by chance are reunited ten years later and, in spite of themselves, resume their old college personas - good and bad, normal and odd, due to the fact that all three guys were madly in love with one of the women... and perhaps still are." Said effort is set up at Sony Pictures Television with Alan Gasmer and Peter Jaysen executive producing alongside Faber. (Deadline.com)
SACRED GAMES (AMC, New!) - Kerry Williamson ("Fork in the Road") has booked a potential drama at the cable channel about "the spidery links between organized crime, local politics and Indian espionage that lie below the surfaces of its economic renaissance." Said hour is based on the novel of the same name by Vikram Chandra with Williamson penning the adaptation and executive producing. (THR.com)
TWO CROWNS (ABC, New!) - Andrew Chapman ("A House Divided") has scored a script commitment from the Alphabet for a new drama about "two powerful families who fight for control of the country." ABC Studios and Brillstein Entertainment Partners are behind the hour, which Joanne Alfano will executive produce alongside Chapman. (THR.com)
UNTITLED AASIF MANDVI PROJECT (CBS, New!) - "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" correspondent Aasif Mandvi is set to write and star in a potential comedy at the Eye about "a recently divorced marriage counselor who dispenses relationship advice." The untitled half-hour is set up at CBS Television Studios with Mandvi, his manager Lillian LaSalle and Tagline Television's Kelly Kulchak and J.B. Roberts executive producing. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED CRAIG KILBORN PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Craig Kilborn's proposed comedy, about "an eccentric mystery writer (Kilborn) who has mastered the art of living and finds his way of life altered when he meets the woman of his dreams," has found a home at the Alphabet. The single-camera project comes from ABC Studios, where the former "Late Late Show" recently inked an overall deal. Mark Torgove and Paul Kaplan ("Outsourced") will co-write the script with Kilborn and executive produce. (THR.com)
UNTITLED HOWARD KORDER PROJECT (HBO, New!) - Howard Korder ("Boardwalk Empire") has sold a new period drama set in Santa Monica in the 1950s to the pay channel about "a RAND-like think tank mission to prohibit the launch of a nuclear bomb." Allen Coulter is attached to direct the hour, which comes from Wolf Films. The company's Dick Wolf and Danielle Gelber then will presumably executive produce alongside Korder. (THR.com)
UNTITLED KELLY MASTERSON PROJECT (AMC, New!) - Kelly Masterson ("Before the Devil Knows You're Dead") has sold a new drama to the cable channel set in the world of diamond trading. No other details were given about the project, which Ridley and Tony Scott will executive produce alongside Scott Free's David W. Zucker and Masterson. (THR.com)
UNTITLED LAURA SOLON PROJECT (ABC, New!) - English comedian Laura Solon has booked a new comedy at the Alphabet about "three adult siblings whose dynamic is unsettled when their loving, but interfering mother Nancy decides to move to the city where they all live and become a reactivated presence in their daily lives." She'll write and serve as a supervising producer on the half-hour, which has a script commitment with a penalty attached. Warner Bros. Television and Alloy Entertainment are co-producing with the latter's Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo executive producing. (THR.com)
UNTITLED LIGIAH VILLALOBOS PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Ligiah Villalobos ("Go, Diego! Go!") has booked a new drama at the Peacock about "a multi-generational Hispanic family running a Latin dance studio in Miami." Kenny Ortega is on board to direct the Universal Television-based project with Todd Robinson and Steve Stark also serving as executive producers. No other details were given. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED RYAN MURPHY/ALI ADLER PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Ryan Murphy and Ali Adler ("Glee") have booked a new single-camera comedy at the Peacock about "a blended family of a gay couple and the woman who becomes a surrogate to help them start a family." 20th Century Fox Television is behind the half-hour, which Murphy will direct from a script he'll co-write with Adler. NBC has given a script commitment to the project with a penalty attached "said to be bigger than any other commitment for a comedy project this season." Dante Di Loreto and Katherine Shaffer of Ryan Murphy Productions are also expected to receive producing credits. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED SHARON HORGAN PROJECT (New!) - Sharon Horgan (U.K.'s "Free Agents") has inked a blind script deal with ABC Studios. The pact calls for her to write, star and executive produce a new comedy for the studio. Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment will also serve as an executive producer on the resulting half-hour. Horgan was behind the Jenna Elfman-led comedy pilot "Bad Mom" at the studio and sibling ABC this past development cycle and served as an executive producer on "Besties," an adaptation of her U.K. effort "Pulling," for said duo in 2009. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED STEVEN BOCHCO/DAVID MILCH PROJECT (NBC, New!) - "NYPD Blue" alums Steven Bochco and David Milch are set to reteam for a new drama "set inside DC's hottest law firm, Tapman Rose, which boasts a perfect record of billion-dollar settlements [and] centers on Ted Tapman, a charismatic rainmaker lawyer with a dark secret." 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television are behind the hour, which has a significant penalty attached should it not go to pilot. The duo will co-write the script and executive produce alongside Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo with Bochco ultimately serving as showrunner due to Milch's commitment to HBO's "Luck." (Deadline.com)
WEITZ & WONG (ABC, New!) - Ellen DeGeneres and Alex Herschlag are developing a new single-camera comedy at the Alphabet about "a mixed race Jewish-Chinese couple and their two children trying to create their own identity in the face of their very different extended families." Warner Bros. Television and DeGeneres's A Very Good Production are behind the half-hour, which has a penalty attached. Herschlag will pen the script, inspired by the real-life experiences of his brother, and executive produce alongside DeGeneres and Lauren Corrao. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - "The Talk" alumnus Holly Robinson Peete will recur on "Mike & Molly" as a love interest for Reno Wilson's Carl (Deadline.com); 10 of the NBC owned-and-operated stations have signed on to carry Steve Harvey's upcoming talk show from Endemol USA, due next fall (Variety.com); Eric Ladin will turn up on "Castle" as "an Atlantic City casino security expert who works for the victim at the center of the episode" (TVLine.com); Arlen Escarpeta will guest on "The Secret Circle" as the cousin of Jessica Parker Kennedy's Melissa (EOnline.com); Raymond J. Barry will return to "Justified" as the father of Timothy Olypant's Raylan Givens (THR.com); production on Cinemax's upcoming "Transporter" has been temporarily suspended following an injury to star Chris Vance (Deadline.com); plus Roy Bank, former head of Merv Griffin Entertainment, has inked a three-year overall deal with Lionsgate Television.
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