TV SALES
Michael Colton and John Aboud have sold a half-hour comedy show to Fox. The untitled project is about a Brooklyn couple whose lives are shaken when the wife’s Uruguayan parents move in with them. Colton and Aboud will write as well as executive produce alongside Peter Principato and Paul Young. Colton and Aboud are repped by CAA.
Dan Gregor and Doug Mand have also sold a project to Fox called ADULTISH. Project follows a 30’s something couple who reminisces about their immature lives versus the people they’re supposed to become. Mand and Gregor will take up writing duties and executive producing roles with Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo. The duo is also repped by CAA.
Bruno Heller, Ashley Gable and Tom Szentgyorgyi have sold a female-driven crime dama to CBS titled MURDER BITCHES. The project follows two young female detectives with polar opposite personalities, one of which suffered a stroke two years prior at the age of 27. Gable and Szentgyorgyi will write and all three will executive produce. Heller and Szentgyorgyi are repped by WME while CAA reps Gable.
Will Gluck and Brian Gallivan have sold an untitled single-camera comedy to CBS. The project centers on a sports-crazy Boston family and their gay son who wishes to spend less time with his family. Gluck will executive produce with Gallivan co-executive producing with Richie Schwartz. Gluck is repped by UTA and Gallivan by CAA.
Shonda Rhimes’ company Shondaland has sold two projects to ABC. The first, a comedy titled I HATE LA DUDES written by Issa Rae (UTA), follows an up-and-coming journalist who becomes the sole female working on a male-driven internet talk show. The second, titled THE MIX, was written by John Hoffman (CAA) and centers on the public and private lives of five female talk-show hosts on a show similar to “The View”. Rhimes and Betsy Beers will executive produce both projects.
Ryan Murphy and his production company will produce two projects from other writers- one a drama at Fox and the other a comedy at NBC. The drama was written by Brian Miller and is titled MONTAUK and follows a huge conspiracy unfolding in the town of Montauk on Long Island. Miller is repped by CAA. The untitled comedy was written by Matt Spicer and Max Winkler with the former writing and the latter directing. They are both repped by CAA.
Andrew Chapman and John Eisendrath have sold a drama titled DAKOTA to ABC. The project is centered around a family in Williston, North Dakota during an oil boom that becomes one of the last households in the small town to sell their mineral rights. The pair will write the script and exec produce with Maria Grasso and Deb Spera. Chapman is repped by Original Artists and Eisendrath by ICM.
Charley and Vlas Parlapanides have sold THE CENTURION to CBS. The project follows a Force Recon Marine overseas who nearly dies in a fatal accident that kills his friend. Terrified, he makes a promise to God that he will redeem the lives he took at war if he is returned safely home to his family. Once returning home he is able to follow through on his word with the help of the angel of his best friend who died in the accident. The Parlapanides brothers will write and exec produce with Bob Sertne and Chris Morgan. They are repped by WME.
CBS has purchased the drama HOSTAGES from Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Warner Bros. Written by Alon Aranya, who created the Israeli show upon which it is based, the project focuses on a family caught in the middle of a massive conspiracy. Nachmanoff has been brought in to perform a rewrite and direct the project and will exec produce with Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, Omri Givon, Rotem Shamir and Chayim Sharir. Nachmanoff is repped by CAA.
Jill Soloway has sold half-hour comedy WENDY & PETER to Fox. The project follows a single working mom Wendy who gets the hardest assignment of her life: as the right-hand woman and den mother to kid-genius tech billionaire Peter and the lost boys he calls family. Soloway will also executive produce along with Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandrea, Meghan Lyvers and Evelyn O’Neil. Soloway is repped by UTA.
Andy and Lana Wachowski are developing SENSE8 with J Michael Straczynski and are shopping the project, whose details are being kept under wraps, to several outlets.
M. Night Shyamalan, making his TV debut, has teamed with John Glenn to sell a drama titled LOST HORIZON to NBC. the project is said to be modern re-imaging of “Moby Dick”, set on the east coast. Glenn will write the pilot with Shyamalan directing. Both men will executive produce and are repped by WME.
Chris Carter is shopping his supernatural drama THE AFTER to potential buyers. The projects details are being kept under wraps but it will be heavy with Sci-Fi and supernatural elements. Carter is repped by CAA.
Graham Yost has received a script order from NBC for his project LA WOMAN. The project, being written and exec produced by Yost, centers on a woman who goes undercover in the California surf scene to try to find her missing sister.
Lauryn Kahn will write the series I GUESS I DO, sold by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s company Gary Sanchez Productions to NBC. The project follows a sham marriage put together by a green card British woman who is using her husband as a guinea pig to write her dissertation. Ferrell and McKay will exec produce. Kahn and McKay are repped by WME and Ferrell by CAA.
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have sold a dramedy to NBC that they are executive producing with Krista Vernoff, who is writing the script. The project follows a mid-thirties songwriter who has written some of the greatest love songs of her generation despite having a completely lacking love life. Vernoff Meron and Zadan are all repped by CAA.
Stephnie Weir has sold a comedy project titled LEISURE CLUB to NBC. The project revolves around several fifty-five and older women who try to live life more like they did during their high school days. Weir will exec produce with Neil Moritz and Vivian Cannon. Weir is repped by UTA. NBC has also purchased a comedy from Peter Murrieta centering on a multi ethnic and racial family. He is repped by CAA.
Kate Walsh will be executive producing a semi-autobiographical comedy project she sold to NBC written by Chris Case. The untitled project follows a divorced father of two who falls in love with a female cop with no experience dealing with children. The pair, who are a couple in real-life, will exec produce with Aaron Kaplan. Walsh and Case are repped by CAA.
ABC has purchased TAMING OF THE SHREW, a comedy project said not to be based on William Shakespeare’s play of the same name. The series follows a domineering business CEO and her subordinates who try to keep her under control. Julia Roberts will executive produce with Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas.
Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa have received a production commitment on a pilot from CBS. ANATOMY OF VIOLENCE, which the pair wrote, follows a female FBI agent who starts seeing a psychiatrist with whom she realizes she knows from the past. Gordon and Gansa will executive produce as well. They are repped by WME.
NBC has purchased THE SLAP, an eight episode series to be written and exec produced by Jon Robin Baitz with Tony Ayres also exec producing. Based on an Australian series, itself based on Christos Tsiolkas’ novel follows the events that transpire when a man slaps a child at a barbecue. Baitz is repped by CAA.
Comedian Tommy Johnagin has sold an untitled comedy which he wrote and will star in. The project is based on his life as an up-and-coming comic and will follow him as he begins a family and has kids. Mike Pennie co-wrote and will exec produce with David Martin, Kara Baker and Jon Thoday. Johnagin is repped by APA and Pennie is repped by CAA.
The CW has purchased the Sci-Fi pilot THE HUNDRED from Alloy Entertainment. Written by Jason Rothenberg, the project is set one hundred years after humanity destroyed itself and survivors, living in space, come back to Earth to try to start over again. Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo will executive produce. Rothenberg is repped by WME.
Chuck creators Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz have sold the the Sci-Fi drama MIDNIGHTERS to Fox. Fedak will write and will executive produce with Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. The project cetners on a group of people, all born just before midnight who have access to the “25th hour” of the day. Fedak and Schwartz are both repped by WME.
TV RENEWALS
Terry Winter’s BOARDWALK EMPIRE, which began its third season three weeks ago, has been picked up for a fourth season. Winter exec produces with Martin Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Tim Van Patten and Howard Korder.
Adult Swim has gone ahead and renewed CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL and NTSF:SD:SUV for their fifth and third seasons respectively, both of which will start in 2013. “Children’s Hospital” was created by Rob Corddry, who exec produced with Jonathan Stern and David Wain. NTSF:SD:SUV was created by Paul Scheer, who exec produces with Curtis Gwinn and Stern.
STRIKE BACK, Cinemax’s first primetime drama, has been renewed for a third season. The project follows unconventional special-ops soldiers played by Philip Winchester and Sullivan Stapleton, who fight terrorism around the world. Yost is repped by CAA.
PRETTY LITTLE LIARS has been renewed for a 24-episode fourth season by ABC. The series is ABC’s highest rated show in key demographics and the fourth season will start mid-2013.
TV DEALS
Tyler Perry has signed a multi-year deal with Oprah’s network OWN to executive produce, script, and direct two new series for a mid-2013 premiere. He is repped by WME.
Rich Appel has signed a multi-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV. Under the contract, Appel will take the role of exec producer and showrunner for “Family Guy” and will retain the same roles with “The Cleveland Show”.
Samuel Baum has signed a development deal with CBS, under which he has already sold an untitled project. The show, which Baum will write and exec produce, follows Dr. John Sherman, a fictional Surgeon General for the United States and how he and his team must deal with treating America’s population as its patients. Baum is repped by CAA.
TV GREENLIGHT
Children’s network Nickelodeon has greenlit SWINDLE, a TV-movie written by Bill Motz and Bob Roth. The project is based on a children’s book by Gordon Korman and centers on an devious card collector who cons a kid out of a million dollar baseball card. Jonathan Judge will direct and Eric Freiser, Adam Rifkin, Marjorie Cohn, Lauren Levin, Loris Lunsford, Karen Glass and Paul Barry will executive produce.
