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TV Pilots |OT| The Season's Dead, But Development Hell is Forever

TheOddOne

Member
Deadline got some scroops.

- Deadline: ‘The Twenty-Year Death’ Drama Based On Novels Shopped By FremantleMedia.
The Twenty-Year Death, the acclaimed debut novel by Ariel S. Winter; is headed to the small screen. FremantleMedia North America is shopping a drama series adaptation of the book, with Richard Price (The Wire) set to write and Scott Frank (A Walk Among The Tombstones) set to produce.

The Twenty-Year Death is in the Hard Case Crime genre that involves capturing the feel of pulp classics without slavish imitation. It consists of three linked novels written in the styles of Georges Simen, Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson that, taken together, tell a single epic story about Shem Rosenkrant, an author whose life is shattered when violence and tragedy consume the people closest to him. Rosenkrantz is first encountered in France in 1931, married to a beautiful woman with connections to a killer hunted by an Inspector Maigret-like detective. Ten years later, he and his wife are in Southern California—she now a movie star, he a philandering author, with their travails watched by a Philip Marlowe-style private eye. The final section is set in 1951 in what can only be described as Jim Thompson’s Despairsville, USA. The same characters run throughout the 20 year span — in varying degrees of starring and supporting roles. And there is a series of murders that are connected by blood, by fate, by the compelling forces as past meets present.
- Deadline: ‘In Good Company’ Series From Paul & Chris Weitz Based On Movie Set At CBS.
- Deadline: ‘The Illusionist’ Series Based On Movie In Works At The CW
- Deadline: Comedy Inspired By Openly Gay Soccer Player Robbie Rogers Lands At ABC
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
- TV Line: Syfy Acquires Dark Matter Graphic Novel Adaptation From Stargate Team
Syfy has acquired the original series Dark Matter, an adaptation of the Dark Horse graphic novels by Stargate franchise vets Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, TVLine has learned exclusively.

Mallozzi and Mullie will helm the 13-episode series, which is being produced by Prodigy Pictures (Lost Girl, XIII). Endemol will distribute the drama internationally. Prodigy’s Jay Firestone and Vanessa Piazza will also serve as executive producers.

In Dark Matter, the crew of a derelict spaceship is awakened from stasis with no memories of who they are or how they got on board. Facing threats at every turn, they have to work together to survive a voyage charged with vengeance, betrayal and hidden secrets.

- Deadline: ‘Bewitched’ Remake Eyed By Networks
On the 50th anniversary of its debut, classic TV sitcom Bewitched is eyeing a comeback. I’ve learned that Sony Pictures TV is shopping a new version of the supernatural comedy, which ran on ABC from 1964 to 1972. I hear there is already interest from multiple networks in the modern-day take, which is being penned by The Vow writers Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein.

The project hails from Lucy Fisher and Douglas Wick’s Red Wagon Entertainment, which produced Columbia Pictures’ 2005 Bewitched film starring Nicol Kidman and Will Ferrell, and also teamed with Sony TV on a potential series remake at CBS in 2011. Also producing the new version is Television 360, the TV arm of Management 360, which reps Kohn and Silverstein, along with CAA. Daniel Rappaport and Marcus Blakely executive produce.

- Deadline: Chris O’Dowd To Adapt His ‘Moone Boy’ Comedy For ABC As Put Pilot
Moone Boy, an U.S. adaptation of Chris O’Dowd’s quirky Irish comedy, has landed at ABC with a put pilot commitment. Sony Pictures TV is producing. Based on O’ Dowd’s semi-autobiographical sitcom, Moone Boy focuses on 12-year-old Martin Moone and the sarcastic, imaginary friend who helps him navigate the challenges of his eccentric childhood. O’Dowd will pen the single-camera remake and will executive produce with 3 Arts’ Dave Becky & Nick Frenkel, Sprout Pictures Limited, Baby Cow Productions & Hot Cod Productions Limited.

O’Dowd created, Chris Dowdco-wrote (with Nick Vincent Murphy), and co-starred in Moone Boy on British satcaster Sky. He is not attached to act in the remake. The UK series, which won an International Emmy for best comedy last year, debuted in 2012 and began airing this fall on various PBS stations in the U.S. It also is steamed on Hulu. Here is a trailer:

- Deadline: NBC Nabs Comedy From Scott Silveri & Shana Goldberg-Meehan As Put Pilot
It’s a big Friends day, with the popular sitcom, coming off its 20th anniversary celebration, getting licensed to Netflix for the first time. Here is more Friends-related news: Two of the series MVPs — former executive producers/co-showrunners Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan — are back at NBC with a new multi-camera comedy. The untitled project, from 20th Century Fox TV where Silveri is under an overall deal, has received a put pilot commitment from the network. Co-written/executive produced by Silveri and Goldberg-Meehan, the comedy is about an uptight family man and his boomer parents who are attacking their golden years like it’s spring break. Veteran multi-camera helmer Andy Ackerman is attached to direct.

- THR: 'Bad Judge's' Tone Bell Sells Comedy to FX (Exclusive)
Since winning NBC's Stand Up for Diversity Program, comedian Tone Bell is making the most of his time in Hollywood.

The comedian and co-star on NBC's Bad Judge has just sold a comedy script to FX, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Created by Bell and comedian Mark Agee, the untitled comedy takes a page from the diverse college admissions brochures and follows four guys from vastly different backgrounds as they clumsily try to figure out how to get by — and get along.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Chris O’Dowd To Adapt His ‘Moone Boy’ Comedy For ABC As Put Pilot

Fuck off with this bullshit already Hollywood. The series is only two years old, it's still on going, is in English already, and is widely available to US audiences via Hulu and PBS.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
‘Black Swan’ Scribe Mark Heyman To Write ‘Strange Angel’ For Scott Free, AMC

Based on George Pendle’s book Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life Of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside, the drama tells the story of Jack Parsons, a brilliant rocket scientist and co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. While a pioneer in research that had only recently been dreamed up in science fiction, his bright future gave way to ruin as Parsons headed down another, darker path into the occult community of mid-century Los Angeles.

With a cast of characters including Howard Hughes, L. Ron Hubbard, and Robert Heinlein, Strange Angel explores the unruly consequences of genius.
 

Wiktor

Member
Jesus Christ, it;s like Syfy decided to make up for half a decade of shitty tv shows. They're going completely crazy on SF IPs. Love it :)
 

TheOddOne

Member
- Deadline: ‘The IT Crowd’ Comedy Remake From Bill Lawrence, Neil Goldman & Garrett Donovan Gets NBC Put Pilot Commitment
Bill Lawrence already is shepherding a series adaptation of a hit feature comedy, Rush Hour. Now the prolific producer is looking to do the same for one of Bill Lawrence 14the most popular British comedy series of the past decade, The IT Crowd. In a competitive situation, a multi-camera U.S. version of Channel 4’s The IT Crowd from Lawrence, Community alums Neil Goldman & Garrett Donovan and Warner Bros. TV has landed at NBC with a put pilot commitment.

NBC also was the network that previously took a stab at an U.S. version of The IT Crowd. The hybrid multi-/single-camera project was developed during the 2006-07 season and was picked up to series for midseason but never aired as the show became a casualty of the network’s 2007 regime change. That NBC-produced iteration of The IT Crowd starred Joel McHale, who went on to topline another NBC workplace comedy, Community, on which Goldman and Donovan worked as executive producers.
 

beat

Member
That NBC-produced iteration of The IT Crowd starred Joel McHale, who went on to topline another NBC workplace comedy, Community, on which Goldman and Donovan worked as executive producers.
And I believe the previous NBC IT Crowd was showrun by Port and Guarascio, who showran Community S4.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Something on the more interesting side.

- THR: BBC America to Co-Produce 'London Spy' With Ben Whishaw
BBC America is teaming with BBC Two to co-produce the British miniseries London Spy starring Ben Whishaw, bringing it to the U.S.

The five-part mini follows Danny (Whishaw), an innocent, young romantic drawn into a dangerous world of espionage. Joining Whishaw in the cast is Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling and newcomer Edward Holcroft.

London Spy will be directed by Jakob Verbruggen (The Fall, The Bridge) and is created by Tom Rob Smith (Child 44), who also will write. Production began in London this week.

and then...

- Deadline: David S. Goyer Adapting ‘Shadowland’ Horror Novel As NBC Event Series
Ahead of the October 24 debut of NBC’s Constantine, the comic book adaptation’'s co-developer/executive producer David S. Goyer has set up another genre project at the network, an event series based on the 1980 dark fantasy novel Shadowland by Peter Straub. The book, a World Fantasy Award nominee, centers on two young boys, Tom Flanagan and Del Nightingale. They spend a summer with Del’s uncle Coleman, one of the foremost magicians in the world, who may actually be a sorcerer.

- Deadline: NBC Nabs Family/Workplace Comedy From Le Train Train & UK’s Dawson Bros.
In their first foray into American television, prolific British comedy writer-creators the Dawson Bros have teamed with Rashida Jones and Will McCormack’s Le Train Train for The Spencer Tapes, a single-camera comedy project which has sold to NBC. It hails from Warner Bros TV where Le Train Train is based.

The Dawson Bros. — a moniker used by brothers Steve Dawson, Andrew Dawson and their childhood friends Tim Inman — will write The Spencer Tapes, which centers on a 30-year-old college professor who rediscovers his old camcorder tapes and realizes that life hasn’t turned out the way he’d hoped. Steve Dawson, Andrew Dawson and Inman executive produce with Jones and McCormack, while Le Train Train’s Jeff Grosvenor co-exec produces.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
AMC Network Narrows Field Of Drama Pilot Contenders With Producer Meetings

With a renewed focus on original dramas as AMC just exited the unscripted space, the network is ramping up development.

I’ve learned of seven projects from AMC Studios that were featured at the meetings held this week.

Chris Mundy has American Band. Drawing on Mundy’s 10-year experience as a journalist for Rolling Stones, the project, which he wrote and executive produces, chronicles the rise of the next great rock and roll band from an unfiltered, insider’s perspective.

Returning to the showcase for a second go-around was drama The Sparrow. The project is an adaptation of Mary Doria Russell science-fiction book and tells the story of a Jesuit-led mission to make first contact with an alien race.

Police State: A dark comedic tale of Ollie, a big-box store security guard, who is secretly recruited by an NSA-like organization. Starting as an observer, a person who can see everything by manipulating our electronic devices, Ollie will rise to power in hopes of changing the system but will ultimately compromise his intentions.

Bombingham: The fragile peace in present day Birmingham, Alabama is shattered when a murderer from 1963 is discovered and buried demons from the Civil Rights Era resurface.

Sacred Games: Based on the 2007 novel “Sacred Games” by Vikram Chandra. An ensemble drama exploring the organized crime, crooked local politics and Indian espionage that may undermind the South Asia’s economic renaissance.

Disorder: Drama about the spread of a mysterious virus.

Search and Destroy is written/executive produced by Daniel C. Connolly (Longmire). It is set in the early 1950s and centers on a high-level American soldier who has a tough time adjusting to civilian life after coming back from World War II. He is sent to Argentina to track down WWII fugitives.

Search and Destroy sounds cool.

Also,

Additionally I hear that Preacher was not part of the presentations but also is heating up for a potential pilot order.
 
@TVMoJoe said:
BOOM! FX has ordered SCREAM QUEENS from Ryan Murphy. 15-episode horror anthology set to debut in fall 2015.
NY Mag said:
Glee will soon be gone, but Fox won’t be without a Ryan Murphy show next season: The network has green-lit production on Scream Queens, an American Horror Story–like anthology series that will mash up comedy and horror into 15 hour-long episodes. Each season will feature different settings and story lines, along with two female leads. (Not clear: whether the female stars will recur each season.) Murphy and co-creators Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan have already started writing the show, with production slated to begin in the spring for a fall 2015 debut. “We are having a blast writing Scream Queens,” Murphy said. “We hope to create a whole new genre — comedy-horror — and the idea is for every season to revolve around two female leads. We’ve already begun a nationwide search for those women, as well as 10 other supporting roles.” Murphy and Co. have become the masters of anthology, with their FX series American Horror Story giving FX its biggest audiences ever and plans in the work for the true-crime-driven American Crime Story.
.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
"We hope to create a whole new genre — comedy-horror"

Uh huh. No one has ever done that before. Truly groundbreaking.
 

big ander

Member
"We hope to create a whole new genre — comedy-horror"

Uh huh. No one has ever done that before. Truly groundbreaking.

It's truly amazing what Ryan Murphy can do. He's taking two genres--genres that have never been combined before, and certainly don't have a rich history of being innately linked and similar on deep psychological levels--and mashing them together. What an artist.
 

BluWacky

Member
It's truly amazing what Ryan Murphy can do. He's taking two genres--genres that have never been combined before, and certainly don't have a rich history of being innately linked and similar on deep psychological levels--and mashing them together. What an artist.

The rules don't apply to Ryan Murphy. This is a man who created a (formerly) enormous hit TV show that regularly describes things as "mash ups" when they are not, in fact, "mash ups". So of course when HE "mashes up" two genres that have been regularly linked and often mentioned as selling points for films or television programmes, it's never been done before!
 

Apt101

Member
I know it's not exactly brand new, but I am really digging Red Band Society. I did not think I was going to like it all, figuring it was aiming for a younger crowd, but all of the young actors are super good in it. Some future big stars in this show.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Netflix Orders Bill Burr Animated Comedy Series From Vince Vaughn & Gaumont TV

Netflix has greenlighted F Is For Family, a six-episode animated series based on the comedy of Bill Burr, which will be voiced by Burr, Laura Dern and Justin Long. The period family comedy, which will debut in 2015.

Created by Burr and Emmy winner Michael Price (The Simpsons), who will serve as showrunner, F Is For Family follows the Murphy family in the 1970s — a time when you could smack your kid, smoke inside and bring a gun to the airport. Burr will voice Frank Murphy, the family’s extreme patriarch; Dern will voice Frank’s wife Sue; and Long voices the family’s oldest son, Kevin.

Laura Dern!!!!
 

eggybob

Unconfirmed Member
Does anyone know how forever is doing? I've caught up on it and I'm really enjoying it. That means I'm expecting it to be cancelled.
 

Apt101

Member
Does anyone know how forever is doing? I've caught up on it and I'm really enjoying it. That means I'm expecting it to be cancelled.

Forever: Live + 3 = 7.1 million/1.7 rating and Live + 7 = 7.7 million/1.8 rating

That was Tuesday, apparently up against the World Series. Many other shows, particularly some on ABC like Selfie, hover around 5 mil (from a quick glance through the numbers, I may be wrong). So I think it's safe for now.

P.S. I love that show.
 

TheOddOne

Member
- Deadline: ‘Frankenstein’ Drama From Rand Ravich & Howard Gordon Set At Fox As Put Pilot
Described as a grounded sci-fi, Frankenstein brings Gordon back to his genre roots of The X-Files, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. Taking inspiration from the basic Mary Shelley mythology of a man brought back to life by scientists playing god, Frankenstein centers on Adam Tremble, a morally corrupt FBI agent who is given a second chance at life when he is brought back from the dead. Now younger and stronger, Tremble will have to choose between his old temptations and his new sense of purpose — dealing with threats beyond the FBI’s capabilities. All the while navigating the complicated relationship with his “creators”: an antisocial Internet billionaire and his bio-engineer twin sister.
- Deadline: ‘Hitch’ Comedy Series In Works At Fox
Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont (Made Of Honor) will write the series adaptation, a workplace comedy that explores dating and sexual politics. They will executive produce with Overbrook’s Smith, Lassiter and Caleeb Pinkett.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
- The Wrap: ‘Marley & Me’ Adaptation Being Developed by NBC

The network is developing an adaptation of the 2008 Owen Wilson-Jennifer Aniston film “Marley & Me,” which will be written and executive produced by Jenny Bicks (“Sex and the City,” “The Big C”).

The single-camera comedy project, which has received a put pilot commitment from the network, will be a sequel to the film, which was based on the John Grogan best-seller. John and Jenny Grogan and their two boys, now 14 and 11, have just moved back to Florida so that John can take up his newspaper column once again.

I feel like there's going to be a year in the near future where the broadcast networks don't have a single original project on their slate.
 

TheOddOne

Member
I feel like there's going to be a year in the near future where the broadcast networks don't have a single original project on their slate.
Yuuuuuuuuup.

- Deadline: Archie Comics Drama Series ‘Riverdale’ Set At Fox With Greg Berlanti Producing
After Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl, Greg Berlanti is helping bring another set of iconic comic book characters to television: Archie, Betty and Veronica, Josie and the Pussycats. Riverdale, a drama based on the characters from the Archie comics, has landed at Fox with a script deal plus penalty. Warner Bros TV is producing with with studio-based Berlanti Productions.
Written by Aguirre-Sacasa, Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics, Riverdale is named after the fictional town where most Archie Comics characters reside and which will serve as the setting for the show. Set in the present, the series offers a bold, subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica and their friends, exploring the surreality of small-town life — the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome façade.

Here are more details on the Archie characters who will take the leap to TV: The series will showcase the eternal love triangle of Archie Andrews, girl-next-door Betty Cooper and rich socialite Veronica Lodge and will include the entire cast of characters from the comic books — including Archie’s rival Reggie Mantle and slacker best friend Jughead Jones. Popular gay character Kevin Keller also will play a pivotal role, with other characters from Archie Comics’ expansive library also slated to appear, including Josie and the Pussycats.
LOL
 

TheOddOne

Member
- Deadline: Paul Giamatti & Damian Lewis To Topline Showtime Pilot ‘Billions’
Emmy-winning Homeland star Damian Lewis is returning to Showtime with a lead role in another drama project. Lewis and fellow Emmy winner Paul Giamatti have been tapped as the two leads in Showtime’s Wall Street drama pilot Billions, which will be directed by Neil Berger (Divergent).

Written and executive produced by Brian Koppelman and David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin, Billions is a fictional drama that takes a close look at the world of high finance by tracking the approaching collision between two titanic figures – the hard charging, whip-smart U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhodes (Giamatti), and the brilliant, ambitious hedge fund king, Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Lewis). Filming is slated to begin in New York in early 2015.

Billions reunites several key auspices of the 2006 movie The Illusionist, which was written and directed by Berger, co-starred Giamatti and was produced by Koppelman and Levien.
 
- Deadline: TBS Orders ‘Wrecked’ Deserted Island Comedy Pilot That Echoes ‘Lost’
The cable network has given a pilot order to Wrecked, a single-camera comedy from up-and-coming writers Justin Shipley & Jordan Shipley and producer Jesse Hara.
Described as Lost meets It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, an ensemble comedy also created by then-up-and-comers, Wrecked chronicles the aftermath of a plane crashing on a remote island. Two best friends, along with an extremely diverse group of survivors, must adjust to life in a dangerous new world that poses unique threats.which they mostly bring upon themselves. Danny and Owen, who weren’t quite killing it pre-crash, are given the chance to finally be the kind of men they’ve always wanted to be. No longer plugged in, they become the unexpected leaders of this new society devoid of such comforts as social media, wi-fi, indoor plumbing and fast food restaurants
 
- Deadline: Starz Ballet Drama ‘Flesh And Bone’ To Become Limited Series
With filming on the upcoming eight-episode Starz drama series Flesh and Bone completed, the pay cable network has decided to air the project as a limited series. The format switch will require no script changes, reshoots or additional footage, with the eight episodes airing as originally written and the current finale standing as a suitable conclusion of the limited series.
More via the link.
 
Don't think this one has been mentioned yet, CW at it again:

- Mark Harmon Developing Young William Shakespeare Drama for CW
Described as a tale of black magic, romance and revenge, the drama is set in 1590s London and chronicles a young Will Shakespeare's rise to prominence as he finds himself caught in a deadly conflict among three witches and the most powerful woman in the world, Queen Elizabeth. The project is described as having the grit of HBO's hit fantasy drama Game of Thrones with the wit and heart of Shakespeare in Love.
 

beat

Member
Young Darwin
Young Shakespeare
Young Aristotle
Young Ghengis Khan
Young Ghandi
Young Mother Theresa
Young Napoleon
Young Vlad the Impaler
Young Rasputin
Young Conan Doyle

you're welcome cw
Meanwhile, the movies have that Young Stephen Hawking movie coming out soon.
 
- THR: CW Adapting Spanish Apocalyptic Drama 'El Barco'
The CW is setting sail for a new world.

The younger-skewing network has put into development The Magellan, a drama based on hot Spanish format El Barco, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The network has handed out a script commitment to the drama — from The Following alum Jennifer Johnson — that revolves around what happens when a mysterious global cataclysm strands a group of students, teachers and crew on a Semester at Sea sailboat.

With the entire planet seemingly covered in water, they begin to wonder if they are the only survivors left. As they explore their strange — yet strangely beautiful — new world, this group of strangers must join forces to survive, all while facing the equally daunting challenges of friendship, family and even love.
 
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