TV SALES:
Nicole Snyder and Eric Charmelo, the team behind the recently canceled drama “The Ringer”, have just sold a currently untitled gothic thriller to NBC. The project is set in New Orleans and is heavy with “tradition, superstition and murder”. The creators will serve as writers and executive producers with Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan. Snyder and Charmelo are both repped by UTA.
NBC has purchased Sony Picture TV’s THE BLACKLIST. The thriller centers on a notorious criminal who surrenders himself to federal agents and offers to help them hunt down a man he was originally protecting. The project was written by Jon Bokenkamp and will be exec produced by John Fox, John Davis and John Eisendrath. Bokenkamp is with ICM.
TV PICK-UPS:
SHOWTIME has tapped Jodie Foster to direct and serve as executive producer for their drama pilot ANGIE’S BODY. Working on a script by Rob Fresco, the show would center on a woman who runs a deadly crime organization. Fresco will join Foster as an executive producer along with Russ Krasnoff. Foster had previously worked with Showtime on their 1998 made for television movie “The Baby Dance”.
NBC has started development on HENCH, based on a comic by Adam Beechen and Manny Bello and centering on a regular man who gets a job filling in for super villains to support his family. The project was brought forward by Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey at Film 44 and Universal TV and was written by Alexandra Cunningham. The trio will also serve as executive producers.
CBS has picked up “Mad Men” writer and producer Dahvi Waller’s medical drama pilot GUINEA PIGS. The plot centers on a group of doctors in Philadelphia who perform risky experiments on human guinea pigs. Waller will write for the project and produce along with Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope of Chernin Entertainment. Waller is repped by UTA.
ABC has picked up a script commitment for DUMB F*CK, a comedy written by Hank Nelken. The project centers on a man and his genius wife who, due to financial trouble, are forced to move in with her equally brilliant yet emotionally unstable family. Executive producing will be Vin Di Bona, Bruce Gersh, Susan Levison and Shaleen Desai. Nelken is repped by Gersh.
TV DEALS:
Hilary Duff has signed a talent/development deal with 20th Century Fox Television with which the studio will develop a half-hour comedy series for Duff to produce and star in. The former star of the children’s show “Lizzie McGuire”, Duff has since had a recurring role in “Gossip Girl” and starred in films including “Cheaper By The Dozen”, “Material Girls” and most recently, “Stay Cool”. She is repped by CAA.
Universal Television has signed Blair Underwood to a major development/talent holding deal which will develop a project for the actor to produce and star in. Underwood, who is repped by ICM, has had roles in “Dirty Sexy Money”, “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Sex and the City” as well as several film roles including “Deep Impact”, “Gattaca” and “The Art Of Getting By”.
