TV SALES
Fox has put two more comedies into development. First project, THE GEORGE CLOONEY MANIFESTO, is written by Annie Hendy which centers on a single woman who is sick of life’s double standards and decides to live her life to the fullest, just like George Clooney. Hendy (who will also direct), Mark Waters and Jessica Tuchinsky will executive produce. Hendy is repped by CAA. MANCHILD, executive produced by Ash Atalla, is a workplace comedy about a thirtysomething Rite-Aid pharmacist, single for the first time since high school, who wants to experience the fun he thinks he missed out on in his 20s. Project will be written and executive produced by Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi who are both repped by CAA.
Bob Martin has sold an Untitled half-hour comedy to a partnership between ABC and Shaw Media, a Canadian Company. The project is about a cartoonist who struggles to reconcile the idealized married life depicted in his comic strip with his own life. Noreen Halpern will executive produce. Martin is repped by CAA.
NBC picked up an untitled half-hour comedy from Rachel Zoe, based on her life. The project will be written by Aseem Batra and executive produced by Zoe and her husband Rodger Berman. Batra is repped by WME.
Andrea Savage has sold her half-hour, single camera comedy, RE-TOGETHER, to ABC with script order. Savage will write, produce and star in the project about a couple with two kids who get divorced in the 30’s and come back together in their 60’s when their kids have families of their own. Savage will also executive produce with Jamie Tarses. She is repped by UTA.
CBS has purchased a legal drama from writer Randy Brown. The project, called LAST STOP SAVANNAH, is about a high-profile Chicago who looses his license in Illinois and goes back to his hometown of Savannah to work in his old firm, where his daughter has just been made a partner. It will executive produced by Bill Gerber. Brown is repped by UTA.
ABC has bought a drama from Karen Croner. The Untitled Project is based on Croner’s life and will be about a woman returning with her teenage son to live with her rock-n-roll family in Laurel Canyon. Croner will executive produce with Fake Empire’s Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage and Len Goldstein. Croner is repped by WME.
Rob Thomas, creator of “Veronica Mars”, will write an adaptation of British drama METROPOLIS for CW. The project is about a group of friends who are struggle with the thought of their adult lives not living up to the expectations they had when they were in college. Thomas will write and executive produce. He is repped by UTA.
Fox will adapt an American version of the British comedy GAVIN & STACEY. The project will focus on the key life moments of the title characters who try to maintain their relationship while combining their polarizing families’ lives. David Rosen will write the script and executive produce with Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, (and original creators) James Corden and Ruth Jones. Rosen is repped by CAA.
Scott Stuber and Gordon Ramsay have sold restaurant drama, THE INFERNO, to NBC. The project is about two fledgling New York restaurateurs who, on the eve of bankruptcy, decide to hire a magnetic, fiery, larger-than-life mysterious Italian chef. It was created and written by Liz Garcia and Josh Harto. Garcia and Harto will executive produce with Stuber, Ramsay and Adeline Ramage Rooney. Garcia & Harto are repped by CAA.
ABC has bought two projects, a comedy and a drama. The comedy project, BENEATH, written by Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie, is a supernatural drama about the unusual changes that befall a town after an energy company comes drilling for natural gas and unleashes something far more powerful. Dworkin and Beattle will also executive produce alongside Rachel Kaplan. The duo is repped by ICM. HIGH MAINTENANCE is written by Steve Lemme and Kevin Heffernan of Broken Lizard fame. The comedy is based on Lemme’s college job experience as an elevator man in a luxury NYC highrise. The duo will not only write but will also executive produce and star in the show. They are repped by UTA.
TNT is developing a “Frankenstein” drama based on Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein series of books. The Untitled project will be a modern re-imagining of the Frankenstein mythology set in New Orleans. James V Hart and his son Jake Hart will write the pilot. Hart Sr, Koontz, Terry Botwick and Ralph Winter will executive produce. Hart Sr. is repped by CAA.
NBC adds two more drama projects to it’s slate. The first, still untitled, project is written by Patricia Resnick and is described as a semi-autobiographical drama with comedic overtones set around the professional and private lives of the harried staff of a formerly famous novelist suffering from decades-long writer’s block. Scott Stuber, Quan Phung and Jonathan Baruch will executive produce. Resnick is repped by Summit Talent & Literary Agency. The second project, called MADDOX is written by Moira McMahon Leeper. The project is about a family who moves to a quant community where something dark might be lurking under the ever present happiness. Peter Traugott, Lisa Zwerling and Rachel Kaplan are executive producing. Leeper is repped by UTA.
ABC plans to adapt the original Dutch program SEA OF FIRE. The project revolves around three teenagers who disrupt their entire town when they star in a porno, leading to a murder and other mysteries. Steve Maeda will pen the adaptation and executive produce with Rob Golenberg and Alon Aranya.
Chris Chulack and Steven Baigelman sell a medical drama to ABC called WARRIORS. The project is partly inspired by the new state of the art Walter Reed Military Medical Center and will revolve around active military doctors and nurses as they practice new medicine and techniques on returning soldiers. Baigelman will write while Chulack directs. Both men will executive produce along with David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Maria Crenna. Baigelman is repped by UTA.
Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price sell a drama to ABC called GRIEVANCES. The project is about the relationship between a single mom and a happily married mother of three who decide to open up their own law firm after getting screwed over by their male bosses. Millard and Price will write and executive produce alongside Neal Moritz and Vivian Cannon. The duo are repped by Paradigm.
CBS is developing a multi-camera family comedy called I LOVE YOU LIKE A BROTHER. The project, written by Tad Safran, is somewhat based on Safran’s life and revolves around the youngest of three brothers who doesn’t think his family is healthy and his struggles to fix that. Project will be executive produced by Rob Long, Kim Tannenbaum and Eric Tannenbaum. Safran is repped by ICM.
ABC buys two more comedies. First project, TRUE STORY, is written by Jennifer Crittenden and Gaby Allan and is said to be a female take on “The Wonder Years”. The duo will also executive produce. They are repped by CAA. Second project, MAN AND BOY, hails from Danny Wallace. The story centers on an eccentric man who returns to his small home town and becomes an important part of his young nephew’s life, imparting wisdom and a zest for life. Wallace and Julie Anne Robinson will executive produce. Wallace is repped by WME.
REV, a british half-hour comedy, is being adapted for American audiences by ABC and will be written by Bob Daily. Daily’s version will focus on an Episcopal priest who leaves a small rural parish in Wisconsin to take over a failing inner-city church in a racially diverse, economically-challenged Chicago neighborhood. Daily will also executive produce alongside Kenton Allen and Matthew Justice. Daily is repped by Gersh.
Lifetime is developing another project loosely based on Jennifer Love Hewitt’s book, “The Day I Shot Cupid”, where she offers tips on romance in a comical and honest way based on her own dating experiences. The project, called FINDING LOVE, will be written by Matt Hastings who will executive produce with Hewitt. Hastings is repped by APA.
Joe Gayton and Tony Gayton have sold an untitled drama to NBC. The project follows a recent college grad who can’t find a job and who finds himself forced to courier cash for criminals, whom eventually offer him a permanent position. Gayton (x2) will write, and executive produce with Marty Adelstein, Shawn Levy and Becky Clements. They are repped by UTA.
CW snatches up a medical drama written by Sascha Penn. The project, HOUSE CALLS, revolves around three young doctors who set up a 24 hour house call service in Boston. Penn will also executive produce with Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman and KristieAnne Reed. Penn is repped by CAA.
Power duo Mike Schur and Dan Goor have sold an untitled single-camera comedy to Fox. The story is being kept under wraps but it will revolve around a group of very different detectives at the very edge of New York. The “Parks and Recreation” duo will write and also executive produce with David Miner. They are repped by UTA.
Steve Coogan sold an untitled comedy to CBS. The project will center on three dads with children from the same mother. Coogan will write the script and also executive produce alongside Michael Rotenberg. Coogan is repped by ICM.
ABC buys cop drama from “Dexter” writer Manny Coto called THE DEFECTIVES. The project revolves around a female internal affairs investigator who is tasked with rebuilding the LAPD’s special detective unit after she spearheads the probe into a corruption scandal that ultimately brings the department to its knees. Coto will write and executive with Lynda Obst. Coto is repped by WME.
Moe Jelline will write a half-hour comedy adaptation called DIRTY GIRLS, based on the book “Dirty Girls: The Naked Truth About Our Guilty Secrets” by Gillian Telling. The project revolves around a group of female friends who reveal the dirty truth about the secret lives of women. Jelline will also executive produce alongside Mark Gordon and Andrea Shay. She is repped by ICM.
Tom Hertz has sold another comedy to CBS with a put pilot commitment. The untitled project, a multi-camera comedy, centers on a young couple, with different ways of looking at life, that meet and move in together very quickly. Considering it’s based on Hert’s early relationship with his wife, he’ll write the script and executive produce with Doug Robinson. Hertz is repped by WME.
Greg Daniels has set up another comedy at NBC, which make sense considering “The Office” is reaching its finale. The untitled comedy will follow a talented musician, with rough edges, who adjusts to his new life as a music teacher in a big-city middle school, where he encounters teacher politics and the temptations of single moms. Owen Ellickson wrote the script and will executive produce with Daniels, Tracy Katsky, Howard Klein and Mark Schulman. Ellickson is repped by CAA.
CBS is developing supernatural mystery THE BIG EASY from creators Liz Garcia and Josh Harto. The New Orleans centric project focuses on the complex life and cases of Jack Lyons, a hard-living trumpet player and paranormal investigator with a dark personal tie to his work. Garcia and Harto will write and executive produce with Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly. They are repped by CAA.
DARKNESS FALLS finds a home at CBS. The drama project is described as a character procedural that will explore the complex dynamic of an FBI psychologist and a homicide specialist as they journey into small communities around the country to solve murders. Erica Messer will write the pilot and executive produce alongside Janine Sherman Barrois. Messer is repped by UTA.
Chrissy Pietrosh and Jessica Goldstein sell comedy project SPINSTERS to NBC. The single camera comedy will revolve around three modern-day spinsters and the one guy who might be able to help them. Pietrosh and Goldsteing will write the script and executive produce alongside Andrea Shay and Mark Gordon. They are repped by ICM.
Ken Mok has sold a soap opera set in the fashion world to Fox. The project titled SCARLETTI was written by Marjorie David and revolves around a multi-generational dynasty struggling for control of their billion-dollar fashion empire. Mok and David will executive produce. David is repped by ICM.
TV RENEWALS
FOX has renewed BOB’S BURGERS for a fourth season. The acclaimed animated comedy has received a full 22 episode order. The show was created and written by Loren Bouchard.
BBC America’s first scripted tv show COPPER has been renewed for a second season. The series, created and written by Tom Fontana and Will Rokos will receive a full 13 episode order. Fontana and Rokos are repped by UTA and Rothman Brecher Kim respectively.
TV CANCELLATIONS
NBC has cancelled ANIMAL PRACTICE. The comedy about veterinarians in a hospital, apparently didn’t perform well in the ratings for young people and will likely be replaced by “Whitney”. It was created and written by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka.
“Grey’s Anatomy” spin-off PRIVATE PRACTICE will play out the rest of it’s 13 episode sixth season, and then it will be no more. Yet, it’s parent show not only lives on, but continues to flourish (isn’t it sad when a parent outlives it’s offspring?). The show was created by Shonda Rhimes.
TV ATTACHMENTS
Graham Yost and Michael Dinner will re-write and executive produce hour drama THE BRIDGE for Fox. The project is described as a high-octane soap opera aboard an aircraft carrier. Dinner will also direct.
Pierre Morel will direct the pilot AFTER HOURS, a medical drama, for NBC. Morel is known for directing “From Paris With Love” and “Taken”. He is repped by CAA.
Jason Moore, director of “Pitch Perfect” and ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters” will direct a comedy pilot TROPHY WIVES for ABC. He is repped by WME.
Sarah Colonna will take another stab at adapting her book “Life As I Blow It” for NBC. Project will focus on the relationship between Colonna and her sister who move in with each other in Arkansas after their lives unravel. Colonna will write and executive produce with Denise Moss. Doug Robinson, Abbey MacDonald, Brian Volk Weiss and Michael Pelmont will also executive produce. Colonna is repped by APA.
TV PICK-UPS
TNT has ordered Frank Darabont’s period drama L.A. NOIR to series for at least six episodes. Darabont, wrote, created and executive produced the show in addition to directing the pilot.
Hallmark has ordered CEDER COVE to series, which stars Andie McDowell. The show was written by Bruce Graham and based on the book by Debbie Macomber.
Comedy Central has ordered eight episodes of animated-anthology show TRIPTANK, which will weave independent shorts and split-narratives together (somewhat like HBO’s “Funny or Die” one might assume). The show which features lots of celebrities was executive produced by Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico.
FOX has ordered two more episodes of new comedy THE MINDY PROJECT created by Mindy Kaling. This comes after already being queued up for a full 22 episode season. Now the tally is up to 24, which is usually the cap for a network show (for now).
ABC has ordered a two-script pick-up for shows LAST RESORT and 666 PARK AVE.
