TV SALES
ABC has given a put pilot commitment to BACHELOR PARTY, a comedy anthology series inspired by the 1984 movie of the same name. The project, from 20th Century Fox TV, Small Dog Picture Co. and The Walcott Co., was co-created by J.J. Philbin and Josh Malmuth. The comedy follows the relationships of three couples, one on the road to marriage, one recently divorced, and one just falling in love. Philbin will executive produce along with Jason Winer, Max Winkler, Jake Johnson, and Renate Radford. Malmuth will co-executive produce.
ABC and Shondaland are developing THE LONG GAME, a drama project from Julie Anne Robinson. Robinson’s Canny Lads Productions is also producing the project, which was written by Jennifer Schuur based on a treatment by Kate Atkinson. It’s described as a mix of sharp wit and suspense, centering on a female forensic accountant whose world gets turned upside down after a difficult case comes her way.
ABC will develop an UNTITLED FORTUNE FEIMSTER COMEDY from Matt Hubbard, Tina Fey, and Robert Carlock. The Universal Studios TV comedy, which is being co-written by Hubbard and Fortune Feimster, is based on the family life and stand up comedy of Feimster. Hubbard, Fey, and Carlock will executive produce with David Miner. Feimster will star and serve as co-executive producer.
ABC and Amblin TV are developing another Julie Anne Robinson project, NO ANGELS. The adaptation of a British dramedy, written by Stacy Traub, follows a group of nurses who work and live together, leading to issues that crossover between the workplace and their home lives.
ABC is developing an adaptation of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with Marc Cherry. The reimagining of the classic tale, from Cherry/Wind Productions and ABC Studios, will be set in the cutthroat world of the modern day music business. Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner will pen the script, while Zachary, Weiner, Cherry, and Wind will all executive produce.
ABC has given a script commitment to Maggie Carey’s THE BIG HOLE. The single-camera comedy chronicles the generational clash between an entitled millenial and her baby boomer boss at a failing PBS station in Montana. Carey will pen the script for 20th Century Fox Television and will executive produce with Caroline Williams, Tom Lassally, and Greg Walter.
ABC is developing PLUS ONE with The Mark Gordon Company. The half hour family comedy project, based on Christopher Noxon’s novel, centers on female breadwinners and male householders and the dynamics of a nontraditional family in the Bay Area. Noxon will pen the adaptation, which Gordon and Andrea Shay are on board to executive produce.
ABC has set up the comedy THE MIGHTY CAMILLA. Based on an original spec by Allison Kiessling, the series centers and unlucky-in-love New York social worker who is recruited to save the world by a handsome time-traveler. Kate Schumaecker and Melissa Rosenberg set up the show for Talls Girls Prods.
ABC bought THE FINGER, a single camera comedy written by Ben Karlin and starring Nick Frost. The project ABC Studios and 3 Arts Entertainment project stars Frost as a famous jewel thief who vows to quit his life of crime and open a sandwich shop to take care of his young son. Karlin and Frost will co-write the script and will executive produce with David Miner.
ABC has put TRUE BLUE back in development. The Mark Gordon Company project was developed last season and follows two female homicide detectives who get partnered up after a falling out years before. Now the former best friends will have to learn to repair their relationship as they solve cases. Kathryn Price and Nichole Millard will write and executive produce with Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper.
ABC has ordered the half-hour comedy BOOKCLUB. The series centers around four female friends that escape their normal lives by pretending to be in a book club. Patti Carr and Lara Olsen will write and executive produce. Ben Spector and Eva Longoria will executive produce for UnbeliEVAble Entertainment and Universal TV.
ABC has landed the drama series, THE EROTIC SILENCE OF THE AMERICAN WIFE. Based on the novel by Dalma Heyn, the series will showcases a group of women who engage in illicit affairs. Sally Robinson and Tony Krantz will executive produce, while Drew Comins and Heyn will co-executive produce. Flame Ventures and ABC Studios will produce the project.
ABC has given a put pilot commitment to FAMILY PRACTICE, a medical comedy from Dan Fogelman. The project centers on a dysfunctional family of doctors who run a family practice in a small town. Simon Stephenson will write the script and executive produce with Fogelman under his Rhode Island Avenue banner.
ABC is developing comedy MR. CHRIS with CBS Television Studios and Amigos de Garcia Productions. Chris Case will pen the script and executive produce with Greg Garcia and Alix Jaffe. The comedy centers on a trustfund kid who gets cut off financially and is forced to move in with a construction foreman and his family.
CBS is developing WINDWARD CLINIC with Neal Baer and Alexandra McNally. The medical drama follows the lives of a group of health care workers in the Venice area of Southern California. McNally is writing the script and executive producing along with Baer.
Fox has given a put pilot commitment to the 20th Century Fox TV producion called EXPERT WITNESS. The crime drama, from Alexandra Cunningham, Peter Berg, and Sarah Aubrey, centers on an expert witness firm that helps solve high profile, high stakes court cases. The experts include an attorney, a jury consultant, a former police officer-turned-ballistics expert, a former FBI profiler, and a forensic pathologist. Cunningham, Berg, and Aubrey are executive producing, with Cunningham writing the teleplay.
Fox is adapting Australian web series THE WEATHERMAN for TV. The project, penned by Wellesley Wild, centers on an insecure weather man. Wild will executive produce for 20th Century Fox Television, as will Sandy Grushow.
Fox has given a script deal plus penalty to RIVERDALE, a drama based on the characters from the Archie comics. Warner Bros. TV and Berlanti Productions are producing the project, which will be a bold take on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and their friends, as they explore the surreality of small town life. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa will pen the script and executive produce with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Jon Goldwater.
Fox is developing HITCH, a half hour comedy series based on the film of the same name. The project, from Will Smith and James Lassiter’s Overbrook Entertainment, will be a workplace comedy exploring the world of dating and sexual politics. Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont will write the adaptation and executive produce with Smith, Lassiter, and Caleeb Pinkett.
Fox is developing an UNTITLED BARON DAVIS PROJECT from 20th Century Fox TV and the Walcott Company. The project, written by Courtney Lilly, is based on the life of NBC all-star Baron Davis and follows a kid from South Central who gets a scholarship for a prestigious suburban school and struggles to balance the two very different sides of his life. Davis and Lilly will executive produce with Kate Gordon and Max Winkler.
Ridley Scott is executive producing THE HOT ZONE for Fox TV Studios. Jeff Vintar will write the pilot, based on Richard Preston‘s book of the same name. The drama series concerns an outbreak of the Ebola virus in America and its terrible consequences. Lynda Obst, Jim Hart and David Zucker will executive produce, with Preston serving as a consultant.
NBC has ordered a put-pilot commitment for single camera series MARLEY & ME. The series will serve as a sequel to the film of the same name. The seres features the film’s characters adopting a new puppy. Jenny Bicks will write the pilot, while the film’s director David Frankel is on board to direct. Bicks, Frankel and Karen Rosenfelt will executive produce for 20th Century Fox TV.
NBC has given a script commitment to an UNTITLED FEMALE BUDDY COP PROJECT from Will Packer and Amanda Lasher. The dramedy centers on two female LAPD homicide detectives whose personal lives are as messy as their crime scenes. Lasher will write the script and executive produce with Packer and Korin Huggins under his Will Packer Productions banner.
NBC has bought an UNTITLED AUSTIN EARL COMEDY PROJECT from The Millers writer Austen Earl. The project is loosely based on the life of comedian Sebastian Maniscalco and centers on a newly married man who desperately tries to keep in touch with his blue collar roots while adjusting to a world of people he finds offensive. CBS Television Studios and Amigos De Garcia Productions will produce, with Greg Garcia executive producing with Earl.
NBC is developing the medial dramedy HEART MATTERS. The series, based upon the novel “Heart Matters: A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon” by Kathy Magliato, focuses on one of the only female heart surgeons in the country. Jill Gordon will write and executive produce. Other executive producers include Amy Brenneman, Brad Silberling, Kelly Meyer, Susan Carlson and Eric Carlson. The novel’s writer, Magliato, will co-ecutive produce.
NBC is developing the single camera comedy, the UNTITLED MUHARRAR PROJECT. Aisha Muharrar will write the series, which centers around an agnostic woman who inherits a church. Muharrar will executive produce with Amy Poehler and Dave Becky for 3 Arts Entertainment.
NBC has given a script commitment to an UNTITLED WITCH COMEDY from Josh Siegel and Dylan Morgan. The comedy follows a group of friends who grow closer after one of them “comes out” as a witch. Siegel and Morgan will write the script and executive produce, while Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan will executive produce under their TBD Productions banner.
NBC has given a pilot production commitment to a rebot of BEWITCHED. The Sony Pictures TV comedy, written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, will be a reimagining of the original series following Samantha’s granddaughter, Daphne, a single twentysomething witch who uses her magic to create the perfect life for herself. Sony TV, Television 360, and Red Wagon Entertainment are producing.
NBC has set up the drama THE ZONE. Written by Teddy Tenenbaum, the series is set in a present-day prison colony in California, where a young combat-ready girl gets herself imprisoned in order to find her father. Kate Schumaecker and Melissa Rosenberg set up the show for Talls Girls Prods.
Netflix has teamed with City for the drama series BETWEEN. The survivalist thriller, staring Jennette McCurdy, focuses on a town where a disease has wiped out anyone 21 and older. Michael McGowan will write and executive produce along with Don Carmody, David Cormican and Naveen Prasad. The series is produced by Don Carmody Television and Mulmur Feed Co., in association with Elevation Pictures Corp.
TV RENEWALS
DirecTV has renewed the MMA drama KINGDOM for twenty new episodes, following the series ten-episode run. The series is created by Byron Balasco and Endemol Studios.
Syfy is renewing Z NATION for a second season. The zombie drama series, from The Asylum, is set three years after a zombie apocalypse when a misfit group of unlikely heroes must get one man across the country to save the world from this deadly outbreak. The series stars Harold Perrineau and Tom Everett Scott.
TBS has given a pilot order to WRECKED, a comedy from Justin Shipley and Jordan Shipley. The project, described as Lost meets It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, is an ensemble comedy following the aftermath of a plane crash on a remote island. Two friends become the defacto leaders of this new society devoid of social media, wi-fi, and indoor plumbing.
Tracy Katsky is developing six comedy projects under her deal with Kapital Entertainment. At CBS, she sold an UNTITLED PETE CORREALE COMEDY from Marsh McCall and CBS TV Studios. Comedian Peter Correale will star as a working class New Yorker who move into their own apartment but end up sharing with with the eccentric tenants. Also at CBS and CBS TV Studios, she set up multi-camera comedy ERIC & BELLA FOREVER, written by Ajay Sahgal and Carlos Jacott. The romantic comedy follows a couple who are too intertwined with their families. At Fox, Katsky has sold BOTCOP, a robot comedy from 20th Century Fox TV and Itai Grunfeld and Geoff Barbanell.
TV CANCELLATIONS
FX has cancelled its crime drama series THE BRIDGE after just two seasons. The series, based on the Swedish series of the same name, starred Diane Kruger and Damien Bichir as two detectives on opposite sides of the Mexican-American border who are thrown together to investigate a murder that took place in both countries.
Lifetime has officially decided not to renew THE LOTTERY for a second season. Produced by Warner Horizon, the ten episode series aired in 2014.
TV ATTACHMENTS
Ed Decter has signed on to showrun the upcoming small screen adaptation of THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES. The series is based on Cassandra Clare’s bestselling YA books and will chronicle the Shadowrunners, beginning with the first book City of Bones. Mortal Instruments producers Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne will also executive produce the series.
Elizabeth Banks will executive produce and direct THE GREATER GOOD, a single-camera comedy in development at ABC. The project, written by Caroline Williams, is pitched as a comedic X-Files, a workplace comedy set in the world of conspiracy theories. Williams and Max Handelman will executive produce the 20th Century Fox TV/Brownstone Productions project.
Rainn Wilson has signed on to produce a scripted comedy series based on the short form video platform Vine called HOLLYWOOD AND VINE. Curtis Lepore, Jerry Purpdrank, Lele Pons, Simone Shepherd, and Christian DelGrosso will star in the project, which is being written by Lance Krall. The project will follow the lives of five social media stars at the intersection of life as Millennials trying to cross over into Hollywood.
TV GREENLIGHTS
Comedy Central International has ordered its first original multi-cam sitcom – BROTHERHOOD. The series, from Big Talk Productions, stars Johnny Flynn, Ellie Taylor, Gemma Chan, Ben Ashenden, and Sarah Hadland and was written by Patrick Carr and Paul McKenna. It centers on two twentysomethings who become surrogate parents for their younger brother after their mother dies.
Netflix has given the greenlight to F IS FOR FAMILY, an animated series based on the comedy of Bill Burr. The family comedy is voiced by Burr, Laura Dern, and Justin Long, who play the Murphy family in the 1970s. Burr will voice Frank, the patriarch, Dern voices his wife, Sue, and Long lends his voice to the role of the oldest son, Kevin. Burr and Michael Price created the series, with Price serving as showrunner. Burr also executive produces with Vince Vaughn.
Netflix is collaborating with City for a new drama series BETWEEN. The thriller will star Jennette McCurdy and is set in a town under seige by a mysterious disease that has wiped out everyone except people 21 years old or younger. There is a power vacuum that results after the government quarantines a 10 mile radius, leaving the inhabitants to fend for themselves. Michael McGowan created the series, which will air both on City and Netflix.
The former TV Guide Network, Pop, has picked up 13 episodes of Canadian comedy series SCHITT’S CREEK. The series stars Eugene Levy and his son, Daniel, as a formerly rich video store magnate and his family who find themselves broke after the advent of Netflix and online streaming movies. The family is forced to live in Schitt’s Creek, a depressing town they bought as a joke years before. Not A Real Company Productions produce the series with both Levys, Andrew Barnsley, Fred Levy, and Ben Feigin executive producing.
TV DEALS
BBC Worldwide has signed a first look deal with Red Planet Pictures. Under the deal, BBC will provide investment and co-production expertise, while Red Planet will provide BBC with its new productions.
Brad Silbering has inked an overall deal with CBS TV Studios. Silbering has been with the studio for a while, working on projects like Reign, Down Dog, and Jane the Virgin. He is repped by UTA and Mosaic.
Kyle Killen has inked a two-year first look deal with Paramount Television and Anonymous Content. Under the deal, Paramount will get the first look at producing and distributing scripted series developed by Killen’s Chapter Eleven. Killen is repped by Anonymous Content and WME.
Nickelodeon has inked a deal with WWE web series SLAM CITY to air the stop motion series on Nicktoons’ NickSports. The animated series centers on former wrestlers who are forced to find day jobs in Slam City after being laid off by The Finisher. John Cena becomes a car mechanic, Randy Orton becomes a zookeeper, and Sheamus is a movie theater usher. Stoopid Buddy Stoodios produce the series, which they developed with Playground Productions.
