TV SALES
Fox has ordred the development of a action comedy series titled BAD COMPANY based on Electronic Arts video game “Battlefield: Bad Company”. The game is war based and lauded for it’s multiplayer battles. The project will be written and exec produced by John Eisendrath and follows four soldiers who shift from the military to private sector but realize their former commander was using them for illegal shadow operations and now the government wants them dead. Doug Robinson, Patrick Bach and Patrick O’Brien will also exec produce. Eisendrath is repped by ICM.
Ken Sanzel has sold two dramas to NBC, both of which he will write and executive produce. The first, titled HOOD, follows an Iraq war veteran who lives in upstate New York and robs from the corrupt banks and government officials and gives the money to the needy. The second project, titled GEN MISHIMA, centers on a journalist and FBI agent who team up to investigate an underground group of brilliant children who attend a secret school. It is based on a Chilean format created by Sergio Aguero, who will executive produce. Sanzel is repped by UTA.
Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer have sold the comedy BROAD CITY to Comedy Central. The project stars Jacobson and Glazer (who are also exec producing) and follows them through New York City as they make the most mundane tasks difficult. Amy Poehler will executive produce as well with Dave Becky and Samantha Saifer.
Phoef Sutton has sold NOBODY TRUSTS MAZ to CBS. The project centers on a Persian-American man married to an Irish-American woman, a union they have no problem with but their parents can’t stand. Sutton will produce with Eric and Kim Tannenbaum. Sutton is repped by CAA.
The CW has put into development EXPECTATIONS, a modern take on “Great Expectations” with Reese Witherspoon exec producing. J Mills Goodloe wrote the script for the project which centers on a small town girl ambitiously trying to make it in the big city. Just when it seems that she’ll have to give up her dreams, a large sume of money comes from an unknown benefactor. Goodloe will also executive produce with Bruna Papandrea, Meghan Lyvers and Evelyn O’Neill. Goodloe is repped by UTA.
ABC has purchased projects from writers Amanda Lasher and Robert Horn. Lasher’s, titled DIRTY LAUNDRY, is a dramedy that centers on the darker side of marriage and parenthood. She is repped by UTA and will exec produce with Jonathan Levin. Horn’s project is titled THE MOTHERLOAD and is based on his own experiences of starting a family. He is repped by CAA and will executive produce with Lindy Ascher.
Rachael Harris and Angela Kinsey have sold a project to Fox following an intense bidding war. Ruben Fleischer will direct the project which Stacy Traub also had a hand in creating. The project is based on Harris and Kinsey’s own relationship and follows two best friends, recently divorced, who become closer from their experiences. Harris, Kinsey and Traub are all repped by UTA.
Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein and JJ Abrams have sold their single-camera comedy ADULTING to Fox. Based on the book “Adulting: How To Become A Grown-Up In 387 Easy(ish) Steps” written by Kelly Williams Brown, the series will follow a women giving out humorous advice on how to make the transition to adulthood. Kohn, Silverstein and Abrams will exec produce with Bryan Burk. Kohn Silverstein and Abrams are all repped by CAA.
ABC has bought LEGACY from Debra Martin Chase. The project is described as a modern soap opera twist on “Great Expecations”. Jeremy Anderson and Patrick Moss will write and co-exec produce with Chase exec producing. Chase is repped by CAA.
Lauren Bachelis, creator of the popular (and Tracking Board favorite) #Hollywoodassistants blog has sold a comedy project to CBS based on her internet sensation. The series, titled 20-NOTHINGS, follows five people in their early twenties doing whatever they can to achieve their Hollywood dreams. Bachelis will write and serve as a supervising producer on the project which has Fred Savage attached to direct and exec produce. She is repped by CAA.
Donick Cary, Ruben Fleisher and Aaron Kaplan have received a put pilot commitment on their supernatural comedy STRANGE CALLS. The project, based on an Australian series of the same name, follows a Boston cop put on night watch on Nantucket Island where strange things start happening. Cary will write. He is repped by WME and Fleischer by UTA.
ABC has put in place a script-to-13-episode deal with James Patterson for a project based on his character Michael Bennet from his book BENNET. Ildy Modrovich will write the script and exec produce with Patterson. Modrovich and Patterson are both repped by CAA.
Graphic novel writer Ed Brubaker has sold two projects. The first is a crime thriller for Fox titled RISIGN SUNS follows an American Yakuza member on the run from the FBI. Kyle Killen will exec produce. The second, an untitled project centers on a secret agent who acts as the “cleanup crew” for another agent’s missions. Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan will exec produce. Brubaker is repped by UTA.
Ty Burrell and his brother Duncan have sold a comedy to ABC that they have written and exec produced. The project centers on two families in rural Oregon who buy a shop. They are repped buy ICM.
SIXTH GUN is currently in production at NBC with Carlton Cuse and Ryan Condal (who will write the script) executive producing. The project centers on six mythical guns in the Wild West. When the sixth, the most powerful of the group, gets into the hands of a young woman, evil forces begin to arise. Condal is repped by WME.
Fox has purchased an untitled comedy based on John Legend’s life, which he will produce. Written by Tommy Dewey and Greg Bratman, it focuses on an early twenties man who becomes the guardian to his younger siblings while trying to balance his career and social life. Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorious will exec produce. Dewey and Bratman are repped by CAA.
Ron Weiner has sold two projects to NBC. The first is currently under the working title of UNTITLED RON WEINER WORKPLACE COMEDY and follows two people working for the same company, total opposites, who realize they need to work together to accomplish a job. Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope will executive produce. Teh second will be a remake of the British restaurant sitcom WHITES. Howard Klein will executive produce. Weiner is repped by UTA.
The Mark Gordon Company has sold two hourlong projects to ABC. The first, SEX DIARIES, is a dramedy about the interconnected sex and personel lives of ten people in New York City. The pilot was written by Tom Spezialy who will exec produce with Mark Gordon and Nicholas Pepper. The second, titled PROS & CONS, follows an FBI agent who finds out her estranged father is a master thief. It was written by Alexi Hawley who will executive produce. Both Spezialy and Hawley are repped by CAA.
NBC has put F*CK I’M IN MY TWENTIES into development. Based on a blog and book by Emma Koenig, the project follows a recent college graduate trying to make it in the big city. Koenig will co-write with Jeff Lowell, who will executive produce with Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun and Gene Stein. Koenig is repped by CAA and Lowell is repped by UTA.
NBC is about ready to purchase WONDERLAND from Anthony Zuiker. The series will serve as a sequel to the book and movie “Alice in Wonderland”. Whit Anderson will write the project. The project takes place seven years after the events of the book and Alice’s friend Clara begins to see her life spiral out of control, only to have a mysterious stranger tell her it can be fixed by revisiting Wonderland. Zuiker and Anderson, both repped by CAA, will exec produce.
NBC has bought UNDATEABLE from Bill Lawrence and Adam Sztykiel. A nulti-cam comedy, the project is based on the book “Undateable: 311 Things Guys Do That Guarantee They Won’t Be Dating Or Having Sex” written by Ellen Rakieten and Anne Coyle. It follows two guys who find common ground in the fact that neither of them can date women. Lawrence and Sztykiel will exec produce with Jeff Inglod. Sztykiel is repped by UTA and Lawrence by ICM.
Salma Hayek and Lauren Shuler Donner will executive produce THE CISCO KID, which CBS has put in development. Written by Diego Gutierrez, the project serves as a modern retelling of the original “Cisco Kid”. After serving tours overseas as a Marine, Cisco returns to LA and witnesses his father’s murder. He and his Marine pal Sam team up to fight the crime that the police department cannot. Gutierrez is repped by CAA.
Kayli Stollak and Donald Todd will be writing GRANNY IS MY WINGMAN for CBS based on Stollak’s blog of the same name. The project follows the dating lives of a twenty-something woman and her grandmother. Stollak and Todd will exec produce with Jerry Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman. Todd is repped by Rothman Brecher Kim.
TV RENEWALS
Fox has given back orders to THE MINDY PROJECT and BEN AND KATE. “The Mindy Project” was given a full season order with a nine-episode pickup and “Ben and Kate” has received a six-episode back order. “Ben and Kate” is created and written by Dana Fox and “The Mindy Project” by Mindy Kaling. Fox is repped by WME.
USA drama series SUITS has been renewed for a sixteen episode third season. The centerpiece of USA’s scripted television, the show is coming off a strong summer. It will pick back up in January with six episodes to finish off season two.
TV CANCELLATIONS
THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER will end its run after its upcoming fifth season. Created by Brenda Hampton and breaking out “The Descendants” star Shailene Woodley, the final season will premiere in March.
Dane Cook’s NEXT CALLER has been cancelled four episodes in to its six episode order due to the series not going in the creative direction NBC was hoping for. The series featured Cook as an abrasive radio host with a soft-spoken female sidekick.
TV ATTACHMENTS
Dan Knauf, creator of the HBO series “Carnivale”, will serve as the showrunner and head writer for NBC’s DRACULA. The project follows Dracula posing as an American businessman in hopes of exacting revenge on those who had wronged him but instead falls in love with a woman that reminds him of his late wife. Knauf will exec produce with Tony Krantz, Colin Callender, Gareth Neame and Anne Mensah. Knauf is repped by ICM.
TV GREENLIGHTS
Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah have been given a greenlight from NBC on a medical drama. The untitled project would follow a group of military doctors working the night shift at a San Antonio hospital. The project has been ordered as an off-cycle pilot. Sachs and Judah are repped by UTA.
TV DEALS
Mike White has signed an overall deal with HBO, under which, he and his company RipCord Productions will create and develop new projects. White is the creator of the current HBO series “Enlightened” and served as a producer in the recently wrapped film “Magic, Magic”. He is repped by UTA.
