TV SALES
CW has tapped Steven Spielberg and Amblin Television to adapt Jessica Shirvington’s novel EMBRACE into a drama series. The project follows Violet Eden, a mid-twenties girl who finds out she is half-angel and is the only person who can stop a raging war between angels and fallen angels. The pilot will be written by Bill Laurin and Glenn Davis who will exec produce with Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank. Laurin and Davis are both repped by WME.
Bill Lawrence, Ali Wentworth and Liz Tuccillo have sold a project as a put pilot to NBC based on Wentworth’s memoirs. Titled ALI IN WONDERLAND, the project follows an impulsive, wise-cracking woman who moves back to Washington DC, and her over-bearing mother, when her husband is relocated for work. Wentworth and Tuccillo will co-write and executive produce with Lawrence and Jeff Ingold. Lawrence is repped by ICM, Wentworth by Gersh and Tuccillo by UTA.
ABC has purchased PULLING, a single-camera comedy Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who will executive produce with Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly, the creators of the original British show upon which “Pulling” is based. The project follows three women in their thirties who live together after one of them calls of her engagement the day before her wedding. Eisenberg and Stupnitsky are both repped by WME.
“Chronicle” writer Max Landis has teamed with Howard Gordon to sell VIGILANT to FOX. The project follows a twenty-year-old woman and social outcast who takes on a crime-fighting persona to take on the corruption within the city police department after a detective is brutally forced into working for the corrupt men within Internal Affairs. Landis will write and exec produce Grodon. Hugh Fitzpatrick will co-executive produce. Landis and Gordon are both repped by WME.
HBO has optioned NUTSHELL STUDIOS, a project about a woman who becomes obsessed with solving brutal murders. The project, based on the 2004 book by Corinne May Botz, will have Guillermo del Toro on board to executive produce and direct with Sara Gran writing and co-executive producing and Gary Unger exec producing as well. Del Toro is repped by WME and Markham, Froggatt & Irwin. Gran is repped by RWSG Agency.
ABC has purchased the drama RISE & FALL from Laurie Zaks. Tony Basgallop has written the project and will executive produce. The project revolves around the events that occur after a Chicago businesswoman is kidnapped, seen through the eyes of her troublesome son. Basgallop is repped by UTA and Independent Talent Group.
Kevin Biggins and Travis Bowe have sold THE BREW CREW to Fox. The project follows two brothers, completely opposite from one another, who try to manage the second largest brewery in Oregon. Biggins and Bowe are repped by Rothman Brecher Kim.
“House” creator David Shore has sold a legal drama ABC. Shore will write and executive produce on the project, which follows an ex-cop-turned-lawyer who uses his time on the streets to help him win cases in court while also trying to battle his personal problems and reignite a flame with his ex-wife.
CW has purchased WUNDERLAND, a contemporary re-imagining of the “Alice In Wonderland” tale. Written and executive produced by Chad Hodge, the project centers on a female detective in a modern city who discovers a whole other world under ours. McG and Peter Johnson will executive produce as well. Hodge is repped by WME.
CBS has purchased a medical drama from Peter Lenkov and Jason Dean Hall, who wrote the pilot. The project follows a billionaire diagnosed with a terminal illness who builds a high-tech hospital for himself but soon finds that he needs to use it to help others. Lenkov will executive produce with Hall co-executive producing. Lenkov and Hall are both repped by CAA.
HBO has ordered a drama pilot which would star James Gandolfini, bringing the “Sopranos” star back to the network. The pilot, titled CRIMINAL JUSTICE, was written by Richard Price and will be directed by Steven Zaillian. The series follows a cab driver who picks up a party and girl goes back to her place where they engage in a drug and sex-fueled night. He wakes up the next morning with no recollection of the night and the girl stabbed to death.
John August and Josh Friedman have sold a family drama to ABC. The project, titled CHOSEN, was purchased with significant penalty. The project follows a family dealing with their fifteen-year-old daughter being identified as the reincarnation of a South American religious entity. August will write and executive produce with Friedman. Both August and Friedman are repped by UTA.
Fox has purchased a single-camera pilot from “Chelsea Lately” guest and writer Heather McDonald, who has teamed with Chelsea Handler on the project. Titled MY INAPPROPRIATE LIFE and written by McDonald and Dava Savel and based on McDonald’s book of the same name, the series follows her experiences being married to a stay-at-home dad with two kids and a half-asian stepdaughter. McDonald is repped by WME and Savel by APA.
Josh Bycel and Jonathan Fener have a put pilot commitment from NBC for their project AT EASE with Jerry Bruckheimer TV and Warner Bros. TV also on board. The project is shown in mockumentary fashion and follows the lives of people living and working on a military base in a desert country at the end of a war. Bycel and Fener will write and executive produce with Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman with KristieAnne Reed co-executive producing. Bycel and Fener are repped by UTA.
Netflix has acquired rights to DEREK, a comedy from British comedian Ricky Gervais. In the series Gervais plays a middle-aged man working in a nursing home. In England the pilot was ordered to series after two million people tuned in. Gervais is repped by United Agents and WME.
Evan Daugherty will write the TV adaptation of the DC comic MIDNIGHT, MASS for NBC. John Rozum, the creator of the comic, will serve as an executive consultant for Daugherty, who is exec producing with Bill Gerber. The project follows a husband-wife duo who globe-trot, taking on supernatural forces around the world. Daugherty is repped by UTA.
Daniel Chun has sold two single camera comedy projects, one to Fox and one to ABC. NO WORRIES, which is set up at Fox with penalty, centers on a middle-aged man who realizes all of his friends his age are pushing off growing up as long as possible. His untitled ABC project follows an immigrant mother and her two American children as they try to open up a restaurant. Chun is repped by UTA.
Fox has purchased AMERICA’S SON from Paul Redford, Amblin TV and Sony Pictures TV. The project serves as a contemporary re-imagining of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and centers on a man whose beloved, presidential-hopeful father dies in what initially appears to be an accident. The man returns home to seek the truth and ultimately dish out vengeance. Redford will write and executive produce with Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. Redford is repped by WME.
Guillermo del Toro has brought his vampire drama THE STRAIN to FX, which he will co-write, direct and executive produce and which will have Carlton Cuse as its showrunner. The pilot will also be written by Chuck Hogan. Based on the book series of the same name, the series follows a ragtag group of people banding together to fight off an epidemic of vampires. Cuse is repped by WME and Hogan is repped by UTA.
CBS has purchased WAKE UP CALL, the latest project from Melissa McCarthy who will exec produce with her husband Ben Falcone, who will also write with Larry Dorf. The trio is behind the popular comedy series “Mike And Molly”. McCarthy and Falcone are repped by CAA and Dorf is repped by Paradigm.
Stephen Belber has sold a drama-thriller to FX. The untitled project follows the cover-up of a murder. Belber sent a treatment of the project to several networks, with FX ultimately taking the bait. He is repped by ICM.
Michael Diliberti has sold PARTY GIRLS to ABC with John Requa and Glenn Ficarra on board to direct and exec produce with Jack Black. The project follows a party-planner who has too much fun at her own events, and eventually must tone down her antics when she begins working for a strict, no-nonsense boss. Charlie Gogolak and Carolyn G. Bernstein will also exec produce. Diliberti is repped by WME.
Ron Moore will be adapting the 2001 fil A KNIGHTS TALE for TV. ABC has purchased the project with Moore writing and exec producing with Maril Davis, Todd Black and the film’s director Brian Helgeland. The series will follow the plot of the film which saw a young man passing himself off as a knight in the Middle Ages. Moore is repped by CAA.
CBS has purchased a drama from Michael Seitzman. The project, titled INTELLIGENCE is based on John Dixon’s unpublished book “Dissident” and follows a man with a microchip implanted in his brain that allows him to process information at inhuman speeds. Seitzman is repped by WME.
ABC has purchased the comedy MIDDLE AGE RAGE from Cheryl Holliday. The project follows a wife and mother who begins to get aggressive when she feels she isn’t respected by her family. Holliday will executive produce with Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. Holliday is repped by WME.
Fox has purchased a live-action comedy to be written and executive produced by Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild exec produced by Seth MacFarlane. The project follows two thirty-something men whose lives get complicated when their obnoxious dads move in with them. All three men are repped by WME.
CW has bought OXYGEN, described as an alien-drama, from the team of Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Scott Rosenberg, Richard Shepard, Sean Furst and Bryan Furst and written by Meredith Averill. The project centers on a high school class, the first of its kind, that integrates humans and aliens. Averill is repped by WME.
Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith will bring LIVE FROM OUR LIVING ROOM to Fox, a multi-camera comedy show that will broadcast live. The only show currently performing comedy live on television is NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”. Yuspa and Goldsmith received a commitment plus penalty on the project. They are both repped by ICM.
Ben Stiller and his company, Red Hour Television, have sold two comedies to ABC. The first, PLEASE KNOCK, was written by Kevin Napier and follows an A-list actor losing touch with reality and his roots, prompting him to move back to New York City and stay in the apartment he grew up in . Napier, who is repped by WME, will executive produce. The second project, THE NOTORIOUS MOLLIE FLOWERS, was written by Adam Resnick (WME) and follows a town’s perennially friendly resident who, after being falsely accused of a crime, decides to focus on her self instead of others, much to dismay to those around her. Resnick will also executive produce. Stiller is repped by WME as well.
MUST BE NICE, a comedy written by JJ Philbin and executive produced by Zooey Deschanel, has sold to Fox. The project follows a single, hard-partying 27-year-old woman who moves in with her married, responsible, 34-old-sister. Philbin will also exec produce with Peter Chernin, Katherine Pope, Sophia Rossi and Molly McAleer. She is repped by UTA.
TV RENEWALS
FX has renewed TOTALLY BIASED WITH W. KAMAU BELL with a seven episode second cycle. Kamau Bell executive produces with Chris Rock, Chuck Sklar and Keri Smith Esguia and the show features Bell discussing various contemporary topics. Shore is repped by ICM.
ARMY WIVES has been picked up for a seventh season by Lifetime. The series, which stars Catherine Bell, Kim Delaney, Sally Pressman, Brian McNamara, is based on Tanya Biank’s book “Army Wives: The Unwritten Code Of Military Marriage” and is executive produced by Mark Gordon and Jeff Melvoin.
TV ATTACHMENTS
David Semel is in advanced talks to direct the pilot for TNT’s upcoming drama LEGENDS. The project follows an operative who has the uncanny ability to transform himself into the exact type of person he needs to be for every assignment. Semel has served as a director and executive produce for shows such as “House”, “Beverly Hills 90210” and “No Ordinary Family”. He is currently serving as an executive producer on “Person Of Interest”. Semel is repped by WME.
TV GREENLIGHTS
ABC has shined the greenlight on three new pilots. The include the drama TERMINALES and the comedies PHYS ED and CONTINUING FRED. “Terminales” will follow a young woman after she is diagnosed with a fatal illness. Susanna Fogel and Joni Lefkowitz serve as writers for the pilot and will executive produce with Aaron Kaplan. Fogel and Lefkowitz are both repped by UTA. “Phys Ed” follows a former high school sports star who returns to teach at his alma mater only to find that the school is almost completely unchanged. David H. Steinberg wrote the pilot and will executive produce. He is repped by APA. “Continuing Fred” centers on a slacker who takes up a job teaching at an elementary school. It was written by Bill Daly who is repped by UTA.
TV DEALS
Matt Reeves has signed an overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV. Under the contract, Reeves will create, write and direct broadcast and cable projects and supervise other writers. Reeves is an alum of both TV and film, having directed “Cloverfield” and “Let Me In” and co-created “Felicity”. He is repped by CAA.
Paul Giamatti’s company Touchy Feely Films has signed a two-year, first-look deal with FX Productions. The company will develop a series for the cable network under the deal.
