One week into the new year and the networks are swiftly moving into production with NBC sending out four pilot orders. The projects include Marlon from Marlon Wayans and Chris Moynihan, Powerless, a workplace comedy from Lego Movie team Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and a pair of untitled comedies from Matt Hubbard and Tracy Wigfield.
While NBC is looking to add to its schedule, TNT is cutting back. The cabler announced that it is dropping the DC Comic-based series Titans, as well as Jerry Bruckheimer TV’s Home, and the Tim McGraw-starring Robbers. TNT has made progress on the drama Will, casting Laurie Davidson in the titular role of a young William Shakespeare.
Pilot cast made solid moves this week. Lily Collins, best known for starring in the feature of The Mortal Instruments, was cast in Amazon pilot The Last Tycoon. The History Channel is also moving forward as it tries to find its next hit series, placing Juan Pablo Raba in it’s Navy SEAL Team drama Six. Fargo actress Rachel Keller has signed on for a lead role in Legion, continuing her relationship with FX.
Check out our full coverage of pilot season below!
THE JURY
Studio: Sony Pictures TV
Status: PILOT ORDER
Execs: VJ Boyd (W/EP), Mark Bianculli (W/EP), Carol Mendelsohn (EP)
Logline: Series follows a single murder trial a season as seen through the eyes of the individual jurors, exploring the biases and experiences that influence the jurors’ judgement, and how their preconceptions change along the way.
BOOST UNIT
Studio: Seven Bucks Productions, Imperative Entertainment
Status: In Development
Execs: Jonny Umansky (W/EP), Zach Hyatt (W/EP), Dwayne Johnson (EP), Dany Garcia (EP)
Logline: Follows the newest recruit of the LAPD’s Auto Theft Task Force, a notorious getaway driver with a hidden past.
UNT. ANIMATED HIRSCH COMEDY
Studio: 20th Century Fox TV
Status: PILOT PRESENTATION
Execs: Alex Hirsch (W/EP)
Logline: Being kept under wraps.
MARLON
Studio: Universal TV / 3 Arts Entertainment
Status: PILOT ORDER
Execs: Marlon Wayans (W/EP), Chris Moynihan (W/EP), Rick Alvarez (EP), Michael Rotenberg (EP)
Logline: Centers on an inappropriate but loving father committed to successfully co-parenting with his polar opposite ex-wife.
POWERLESS
Studio: 20th Century Fox TV / Warner Bros. TV
Status: PILOT ORDER
Execs: John Phillips (W/EP), Phil Lord (EP), Chris Miller (EP)
Logline: Action workplace comedy. Desperate to pay off their student loans and star their “real” lives, a brother and sister illegally use their access to law enforcement information at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to start a private detective agency right under the noses of their bosses and solve the cases that fall in between the cracks.
UNT. MATT HUBBARD PROJECT
Studio: Universal TV / 3 Arts Entertainment
Status: PILOT ORDER
Execs: Matt Hubbard (W/EP), Mike Schur (EP), David Miner (EP)
Logline: Loosely based on Hubbard’s life, it revolves around Andrew and Josie, a happily married interracial couple whose lives take a turn when they move close to Josie’s family in Missouri.
UNT. TRACY WIGFIELD PROJECT
Studio: Universal TV / 3 Arts Entertainment / Little Stranger Productions
Status: PILOT ORDER
Execs: Tracy Wigfield (W/EP), Tina Fey (EP), Robert Carlock (EP), David Miner (EP)
Logline: About an inseparable mother/daughter relationship that becomes more complicated when the mom accepts an internship at her daughter’s workplace.
THE SON
Studio: Sonar Entertainment
Status: SERIES ORDER
Execs: Philipp Meyer (W/EP), Lee Shipman (W/EP), Brian McGreevy (W/EP), Michael Connolly (P)
Logline: Based on the book by Philipp Meyer.
DIRK GENTLY’S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY
Studio: AMC Studios / Ideate Media / IDW Entertainment / Circle Of Confusion
Status: SERIES ORDER
Execs: Max Landis (W/EP), Arvind Ethan David (EP), Zainir Aminullah (EP), Ted Adams (EP), David Ozner (EP), David Alpert (EP), Rick Jacobs (EP)
Logline: Follows the surreal adventures of the highly unconventional detective and his reluctant assistant Todd as they navigate one big metaphysical mystery per season. Based on the cult-favorite novel by Douglas Adams.
MADE IN LA
Studio: ABC Studios TV / Orchard Farms Productions / Fake Empire
Status: In Development
Execs: Mila Kunis (EP), Josh Schwartz (EP), Stephanie Savage (EP), Sascha Rothchild (W/EP), Cami Curtis (EP), Lisa Sterbakov (EP), Lis Rowinski (CoEP)
Logline: Based on the novel The Glitter Plan, the memoir from Juicy Couture founders Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, which details how they founded their global clothing brand on just $200.
UNT. LOUIS C.K. / ALBERT BROOKS ANIMATED PROJECT
Studio: FX Productions / Pig Newton Productions
Status: PILOT ORDER
Execs: Louis CK (W/EP), Albert Brooks (W/EP)
Logline: Being kept under wraps.
KNIGHTFALL
Studio: A+E Studios / The Combine / Midnight Radio
Status: SERIES ORDER
Execs: Dan Handfield (W/EP), Richard Rayner (W/EP), Jeremy Renner (EP), Jeff Pinkner (EP), Andre Nemec (EP), Josh Appelbaum (EP), Scott Rosenberg (EP)
Logline: Chronicles the mysterious but true accounts of the Knights Templar, the elite warriors of the Crusades. It delves into the great secrets protected by the Templars and tells the story of faith, loyalty, and brotherhood that help sustain these warriors on the battlefield, and the dark events that would forever sear the infamous date of Friday the 13th into the world’s psyche.
BLOOD IVORY
Studio: FX Productions / DNA Films & TV
Status: In Development
Execs: Joshua Brand (W/EP)
Logline: Traces the massive global web of contraband animals and ivory, and its connection to the trafficking of narcotics, people, and weapons. The series exposes a shocking underworld that rewards greed and bloodshed while helping to fund the madness of terrorist regimes.
GYPSY
Studio: Universal TV / Working Title
Status: SERIES ORDER
Execs: Lisa Rubin (W/EP), Liza Chasin (EP), Tim Bevan (EP), Eric Fellner (EP)
Logline: A therapist who begins to develop dangerous and intimate relationships with the people in her patients’ lives.
TROLLHUNTERS
Studio: DreamWorks Animations
Status: In Development
Execs: Guillermo Del Toro (EP)
Logline: Being kept under wraps.
VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE
Studio: DreamWorks Animation
Status: In Development
Logline: Reboot of the 80s classic cartoon.
MALEFICIO
Studio: Televisa USA
Status: In Development
Execs: Pedro Peirano (CoW/EP), Mauricio Katz (CoW/EP)
Logline: Supernatural thriller that centers on Don Enrique De Martino, a powerful Mexican businessman who has made a deadly pact with the Devil.
POUR VIDA
Studio: Big Beach TV
Status: In Development
Execs: Richard Villegas Jr. (W), Marc Turtletaub (EP), Dan Pasternack (EP), Erin Keating (EP)
Logline: Inspired by a short story by Richard Villegas Jr. Follows twin sisters, Brook and Lyn Hernancez, who inherit an East LA building from their recently deceased aunt who raised them. They open Pour Vida, a new wine and tapas bar, in a building in Boyle Heights which houses a failing lesbian bar below and a village-like collection of Eastside denizens in three units above. Pour Vida is the sisters’ attempt to put the “gente” in the “gentefication” of the historic barrio.
SANTERIA
Status: In Development
Execs: Alejandro Brugues (D/EP), Eduardo Sanchez (D/EP), Gregg Hale (EP)
Logline: Supernatural series centering on two undercover agents investigating a bizarre murder. The series dives into the complex relationship between the Cuban people and Santeria, the ancient religion born on the island of Cuba.
PEOPLE OF EARTH
Studio: Warner Horizon / Conanco
Status: SERIES ORDER
Execs: David Jenkins (W/CoEP), Greg Daniels (D), Jeff Ross (EP), David Kissinger (EP), Larry Sullivan (EP)
Logline: Skeptical journalist, Ozzie Graham, investigates a support group to write about the members’ supposed alien encounters. The more he digs into their oddball cliams, the more he realizes a semblance of truth to their stories and possibly even signs that point ot his own alien abduction.
TALES FROM THE CRYPT
Studio: Binding Edge Pictures / Endgame Entertainment / Aloris Entertainment
Studio: In Development
Execs: M Night Shyamalan (EP), Ahwin Rajan (EP), James D. Stern (EP), John Santilli (EP), Dan McKinnon (EP)
Logline: Reboot of the classic series.
WILL
Studio:
Status: PILOT ORDER
Execs: Shekhar Kapur (D), Craig Pearce (W)
Logline: Tells the story of young William Shakespeare’s arrival onto the punk rock theater scene that was 16th century London – the seductive, violent world where his raw talent faced rioting audiences, religious fanatics and raucous side-shows.
Cast: Laurie Davidson (Will)
NOBODIES
Studio: On The Day
Status: PILOT ORDER
Execs: Melissa McCarthy (EP), Ben Falcone (EP), Hugh Davidson (EP), Larry Dorf (EP), Rachel Ramras (EP)
Logline: About a trio who watch their friends from The Groundlings go on to star in blockbuster comedies and win Oscars, while they toil away in Hollywood. They attempt to desperately land one of their famous friends for a feature script that they’ve developed so that they too can rise to fame in Hollywood.
