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TV Pilots |OT| The Season's Dead, But Development Hell is Forever

- Deadline: Donald Glover Comedy Pilot ‘Atlanta’ Ordered By FX
FX Networks has given a pilot order to comedy Atlanta, created by and starring Community alum Donald Glover

The comedy, originally set up at FX almost two years ago, is set against the backdrop of the Atlanta rap scene. Glover grew up in Atlanta and has an active music career as a hip-hop artist, stage name Childish Gambino. Atlanta revolves around two cousins on their way up through the Atlanta rap scene whose opposing views on art versus commerce, success and race will make their quest anything but easy. Glover will play “Earnest ‘Earn’ Marks,” a college drop-out who reconnects with his long buried ambition and sets out to seize the life he imagined for himself when his estranged cousin becomes a sudden star.

Glover serves as executive producer, along with Paul Simms (Girls), and Dianne McGunigle of Schiff Co. FX Productions is the studio.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Starz Developing Fracking Drama 'Black Gold'

The premium cable network is developing a fracking-themed project called Black Gold, created by author Benjamin Percy. The project, produced by FremantleMedia North America, is described as a modern-day Western set in a Dakotas boomtown that revolves around oil drilling and fracking (hydraulic fracturing). Spectacular Now director James Ponsoldt will helm the pilot.

Sounds good.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
That's a nice cast. Interesting.

Paul Simms, eh? Very cool. Although using Girls as his singular credit is ridiculous. C'mon, the dude ran Newsradio and was a big part of The Larry Sanders Show.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
ITV Orders Epic ‘Beowulf’ Action/Drama Series From ‘Strike Back’s James Dormer

Described as a re-imagining of one of literature’s greatest and most enduring heroes — and as a Western set in the Dark Ages — this incarnation of Beowulf is created by Strike Back‘s James Dormer.

The action series is set in the mythical Shieldlands, a place of spectacle and danger populated by both humans and fantastical creatures. The set-up sees the titular Scandinavian warrior return to Heorot to pay his respects to the recently deceased Hrothgar — the man who raised him. But when the palace is attacked by the terrifying monster Grendel, Beowulf must hunt it down, winning favor with Heorot’s new female Thane, and the wider community, in the process. The series will follow Beowulf as he slowly reconnects with the idea of family and home. The creators promise an exploration of the notion of good and evil, and heroes and villians, along with battles, chases, raids and celebrations.


Hell yeah
 
- E!Online: Wet Hot American Summer Sequel Series Moving Forward at Netflix
The cult-hit film starring Bradley Cooper Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd and other notable stars is slated to get a miniseries that will begin production in January, sources reveal to E! News. (Netflix has not yet commented.)

So far, none of the original cast has been confirmed to appear. However, during a Reddit AMA two years ago, co-writer David Wain said the original cast would return for the planned sequel. The movie's cast included co-writer Michael Showalter, Poehler, Cooper, Christopher Meloni, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Janeane Garofalo, Marguerite Moreau, Michael Ian Black, Ken Marino, Elizabeth Banks and Joe Lo Trugilo.

Wain, Showalter, Jonathan Stern, Peter Principato and Howard Bernstein are on board as executive producers, according to sources.
 
- Deadline: Da’vine Joy Randolph & Sheaun McKinney Cast In Danny McBride HBO Series ‘Vice Principals’
Selfie regular Da’vine Joy Randolph has been cast as a female lead in Vice Principals, HBO’s 18-episode comedy series from sheaunmckinneyEastbound & Down creators Danny McBride and Jody Hill. Also cast in the series, created by McBride and Hill, is Sheaun McKinney (Graceland). Vice Principals tells the story of a high school and the people who almost run it: the vice principals, one of them played by McBride. Randolph plays Dr. Belinda Brown, the confident & powerful new Principal at Lincoln High school. McKinney plays Dayshawn, a cafeteria worker at Lincoln High, an easy going guy who’s friendly but a bit wary of the Vice Principals.
 
- Deadline: Julian McMahon & Daisy Betts Join Syfy’s ‘Childhood’s End’
Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck) and Daisy Betts (Shutter) have been added to the cast of Syfy’s Childhood’s End, a six-hour miniseries based on Arthur C. Clarke’s classic to premiere in 2015. It follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious ‘Overlords,’ whose arrival begins decades of apparent utopia under indirect alien rule, at the cost of human identity and culture. McMahon will play Rupert Boyce, an enigmatic entrepreneur. Betts is set as the female lead, Ellie, an arts graduate engaged to marry Ricky Stormgren (Mike Vogel), the most influential human in the world. They join previously cast Vogel, Charles Dance, Ashley Zukerman, Osy Ikhile and Yael Stone. Universal Cable Prods is the studio.
 

maxcriden

Member

anigif_enhanced-buzz-30309-1366313545-16_preview.gif
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
David Fincher Shepherding HBO Comedy About 1980s Music Video Industry

Tentatively titled Living On Video, the project — which had been in the works at HBO for months — was written by Rich Wilkes (xXx) and Bob Stevenson, a friend of Fincher’s from his music video days, based on an idea by Fincher, who is expected to direct.

Set in 1983 Los Angeles, Living On Video centers on Bobby, a wide-eyed guy who drops out of college and drives to Hollywood with dreams of directing a sci-fi epic. He lands a job as a PA for a company making music videos. In the vein of HBO’s Entourage, the series revolves around the players of the then-exploding music video industry — directors, record executives and crew members, many of them dabbling in drugs — through the eyes of the newcomer.

The script for Living On Video has been completed, with preliminary casting underway, though the project has not officially been greenlighted to pilot.

Fincher has three series in development at HBO?! Shiiiiiiiiii
 
- THR: AMC's 'Badlands' Casts Its Lead
AMC's Badlands has cast its lead.

International film star Daniel Wu — who was already attached to the drama as an exec producer — will topline the martial arts drama, AMC announced Friday.

Badlands is described as a genre-bending martial arts series very loosely based on the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West. In a land controlled by feudal barons, Badlands tells the story of a ruthless, well-trained warrior named Sunny (Wu) and a young boy who embark on a journey across a dangerous land to find enlightenment.

Wu joins a cast that also includes Emily Beecham (28 Weeks Later, The Village), Sarah Bolger (The Tudors) and Oliver Stark (The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box).


The drama was created by writers-showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville), who will exec produce alongside Stacey Sher and Michael Shamberg (Pulp Fiction) and martial arts filmmakers Wu (Tai Chi Zero) and Stephen Fung. Entertainment One will handle international distribution. David Dobkin (Shanghai Knights) will be the series director.

Wu has been featured in more than 60 films including City of Glass and The Heavenly Kings, the latter of which marked his directorial debut and earned him a best director Chinese Film Media Award.

AMC has ordered six hourlong episodes of Badlands, with a premiere targeted for late 2015 or early 2016.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Sarah Jessica Parker Eyes HBO Comeback in Divorce Comedy

TVLine has learned that Parker is nearing a deal to return to the pay cabler as the star of a potential new half-hour comedy series that tells the story of a very, very long divorce.

Parker would play one half of the troubled couple. She is also expected to serve as an exec producer alongside actress-writer Sharon Horgan (who penned the pilot script), Paul Simms, Alison Benson and Aaron Kaplan.
 
More on this:

- THR: George Clooney-Peter Tolan Showbiz Drama Lands at Showtime
Showtime has won the bidding war for George Clooney's showbiz drama The Studio.

The premium cable network has handed out a script commitment with hefty penalty attached, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

From Sony Pictures Television, The Studio tells the story of a movie studio in the early 1990s, when the studios were being bought up by conglomerates and corporate culture crashed head-on into Hollywood's excesses. The two men running the show's central studio are described as best friends who struggle to maintain their humanity while they stockpile power, fight off irrelevance, and mercilessly f— over anyone who gets in their way — including each other.

Rescue Me's Peter Tolan will pen the script and exec produce via his SPT-based Fedora Entertainment banner. Bennett Miller, Clooney and Grant Heslov will also exec produce. The drama marks Clooney and Heslov's first sale via their overall deal with SPT and a return to the small screen following TNT's 2010 cop drama Memphis Beat. Miller (Moneyball, Capote) will direct the pilot, which is also being exec produced by Fedora's Michael Wimer.
Should The Studio move forward, it would mark Showtime's latest look at the entertainment industry and join Matt LeBlanc's comedic look at the biz, Episodes.

Tolan, meanwhile, also is a co-writer/showrunner on TV Land's Jim Gaffigan comedy series. He most recently exec produced Fox's short-lived Rake adaptation.
 

Wiktor

Member
Guillermo Del Toro & Travis Beacham’s ‘Carnival Row’ Eyes Series Order At Amazon Studios
http://deadline.com/2015/01/guiller...arnival-row-series-amazon-studios-1201345038/
Amazon Studios has inked a large development deal for Carnival Row, a TV series version of Travis Beacham’s cult supernatural feature spec script A Killing on Carnival Row, which has Guillermo del Toro co-writing, executive producing and directing.

Carnival Row is likely to go from scripts straight to series as it is very expensive, making filming a pilot unfeasible. AMC took a similar approach with zombie drama The Walking Dead. This would make a first for Amazon Studios, which has adopted the pilot model, with all scripts approved for production going through a pilot stage and the pilots made available online for customer feedback.

Interesting that they might forgo pilot with this. Will it be an exception or will Amazon drop their pilot seasons in the future? Or maybe a hybrid, with one season a year plus straight to series orders for other shows?

Synopsis for movie script
In the fictional Victorian town of Burgue, fantastical creatures vampires and faeries live alongside humans. These mythological inhabitants, subjugated by the humans, are forced into either menial or criminal lines of work to merely survive, such as drug dealing vampires and fairy prostitutes. When a serial killer begins murdering the faeries, a la Jack The Ripper, a human detective who's been engaged in a taboo relationship with a fairy courtesan becomes the prime suspect and he sets out to clear his name by finding the true culprit. :
Sounds very fun and seems more suited for tv series than movie.
 
- EW: 'Minority Report' TV show gets Fox pilot order
You didn’t need a Precog to see this coming: Fox has given a pilot order to its TV series version of Minority Report.

Since September, Fox has been developing a small-screen version of Steven Spielberg’s 2002 sci-fi film, which starred Tom Cruise as a cop who worked with precognitive seers to stop crime before it happens.

Fox’s series version is set 10 years after the events of the film, which concluded with law enforcement’s Precrime division being disbanded. In the show, one Precog, still plagued by visions, teams with a female detective who is haunted by her past.

Max Borenstein (Godzilla) wrote the pilot, which has not yet been cast. Kevin Falls is the showrunner and an executive producer along with Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank.
 
- Deadline: Syfy Developing Futuristic Prison Society Drama From ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ Writer
Syfy is developing 51st State, a one-hour drama series 86th Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon - Portraitsabout a futuristic prison society, penned by Oscar-nominated Dallas Buyers Club co-writer Craig Borten. The project hails fromFox 21 TV Studios and Chernin Entertainment.

51st State unfolds with a prison population stretched to the limit as Greenland is purchased and converted into a frontier prison colony with male and female convicts incarcerated together. Promised conditional freedom, the inmates are driven to the edge of their humanity when that promise, along with others, is broken. Struggling to seize control and exact revenge, reluctant heroes emerge — but what exactly are they fighting for?
 

harSon

Banned
Guillermo Del Toro & Travis Beacham’s ‘Carnival Row’ Eyes Series Order At Amazon Studios
http://deadline.com/2015/01/guiller...arnival-row-series-amazon-studios-1201345038/


Interesting that they might forgo pilot with this. Will it be an exception or will Amazon drop their pilot seasons in the future? Or maybe a hybrid, with one season a year plus straight to series orders for other shows?

Synopsis for movie script

Sounds very fun and seems more suited for tv series than movie.

Carnival Row is easily one of the best unrealized scripts that I've had the pleasure of reading. Unfortunately, Pacific Rim and Clash of the Titans kind of soured me on Beacham as a screenwriter - so I'm a tad bit conflicted.
 

Wiktor

Member
They're turning Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes into limited tv series
Sonar Entertainment will develop Stephen King’s bestselling novel Mr. Mercedes as a limited series for television. David E. Kelley (Boston Legal, Ally McBeal, The Practice) is attached to write the script and Jack Bender (Lost) will direct.

Mr. Mercedes, which King describes as his first hard-boiled detective tale, was published by Scribner in June. The story focuses on a psychopathic killer who commits mass murder by driving his Mercedes into a crowd and the recently retired cop who makes it his mission to bring him down. Mr. Mercedes is the first of a projected trilogy. The second novel, Finders Keepers, will be published by Scribner in May of this year.
”
Loved the novel and it's perfect material for TV. I just wonder how they will handle the
incest themes
. I hope they won't cut them.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Mike Meyers signs deal with HBO

"Mike Myers is one of the great comedy minds of this or any other era," said Michael Lombardo, President of HBO Programming. "The opportunity to collaborate with a talent of his stature is tremendously exciting."

Added Myers, "I'm thrilled to be at HBO."

No word yet as to what projects the comedian has lined up at the premium network, but we'll be sure to let you know when more info is available.
 
SyFy PR said:
Syfy announced today that Jim Uhls (Fight Club, Semper Fi, Jumper) has signed on to adapt Robert Charles Wilson’s Hugo Award novel, Spin, into a six hour miniseries. The widely acclaimed novel centers on a young scientist trying to save humanity from the impending apocalypse of a mysterious, impenetrable cloud that has enveloped the entire Earth, blacking out the stars.

Spin, originally published in 2005, is the first of a trilogy in the best-selling series that also includes Axis and Vortex.

Universal Cable Productions will produce the project, along with Rob Morrow’s Bits and Pieces Picture Company and Olympus Picture’s Leslie Urdang. Jim is represented by Paradigm, Anonymous Content and Bloom, Hergot, Diemer.
.
 
- THR: Pamela Adlon to Star in FX Comedy Pilot Directed by Louis C.K.
The network used its platform at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour Sunday to announce it has picked up to pilot comedy Better Things, created by and starring Adlon and directed by Louie star Louis C.K.

Better Things stars Adlon as Sam, a working actor trying to earn a living, navigate her three daughters' lives, having fun with a friend or two, and also — just maybe — squeezing in some sex once in a while. Her life is funny to watch, but you wouldn't want to live it (except sometimes).

Adlon (Louie, Californication) and C.K. will write the pilot and executive produce alongside 3 Arts Entertainment's Blair Breard and Dave Becky. The pilot hails from FX Productions.
 

TheOddOne

Member
- Deadline: Netflix Picks Up Will Arnett Comedy Series ‘Flaked’
etflix has given an eight-episode, direct to series order to Flaked, starring the Arrested Development alum, for a 2016 launch. Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz, who has a deal with Netflix, also executive produces.
Co-created by Arnett and Mark Chappell (The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret), Flaked is set in the insular world of Venice, California. The series is the serio-comic story of a self-appointed “guru” who falls for the object of his best friend’s fascination. Soon the tangled web of half-truths and semi-bullshit that underpins his all-important image and sobriety begins to unravel. Arnett plays Chip, a man doing his honest best to stay one step ahead of his own lies.
 

Clevinger

Member
So I was listening to this interview with the Banshee creator/writer and he mentioned how Quarry is looking like another quality Cinemax show. I figured he's probably just out of the loop because they filmed the pilot like in Dec. of 2013 and we haven't heard anything since and it's probably dead.

So I googled and found this casting article from last month:

Cinemax new TV series, Quarry is ramping up production in New Orleans, Louisiana. According to the Louisiana Film Commission, producers are now hiring crew members to work on the new Cinemax TV series.

Filming for Cinemax Quarry starts on March 2015 with pre-production starting on February 2015. Producers are now hiring crew members to work on the production

So, did I miss it getting picked up? Maybe they're redoing the pilot?
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
So I was listening to this interview with the Banshee creator/writer and he mentioned how Quarry is looking like another quality Cinemax show. I figured he's probably just out of the loop because they filmed the pilot like in Dec. of 2013 and we haven't heard anything since and it's probably dead.

So I googled and found this casting article from last month:


So, did I miss it getting picked up? Maybe they're redoing the pilot?

No idea, though it sounds like they're ramping up for something. I was really annoyed that Cinemax didn't talk about any new shows at their TCA session and that no critic bothered to ask. Is it just going to be Banshee, Strike Back, and The Knick again? For the whole year? Where are the new shows? What the hell is going on with Quarry or Blanco or Outcast? Are they even going to bother to officially cancel that Hunted spin off? WTF are you doingggg cinemax
 

Wiktor

Member
I don't get it why they always try to remake. Just take this character, move him into USA and make new stories with him.
 
- Jesse Eisenberg Adapting 'Bream' Stories as Amazon Comedy
The Oscar nominee is adapting Bream Gives Me the Hiccups as a half-hour comedy for Amazon, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Written on spec, the comedy is based on a series of short stories that The Social Network star writes for McSweeney's.

Eisenberg wrote the script on spec and will executive produce and direct the project. A24's Ravi Nandan (USA Network's Playing House) and John Hodges will also executive produce.

Bream centers on a privileged and precocious 9-year-old restaurant critic who visits different eateries with his alcoholic mother, reviewing everything, often with his friend Matthew. Eisenberg has written 12 in the series, starting in 2012 and running through the end of 2013.
 
- Deadline: J. Michael Straczynski To Write Spike TV’s ‘Red Mars’ Drama Series Project
Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski has been tapped to write Red Mars, Spike TV’s scripted drama series project in development based on Kim Stanley Robinson’s bestselling “hard” science-fiction trilogy about the colonization and terraforming transformation of Mars into a place where humans can sustainably live.

The TV series adaptation, named after the first book in the trilogy, has been on fast track development at Spike since the network took in the project in October with HBO’s Game Of Thrones co-executive producer Vince Gerardis as producer and Robinson as consultant.
 
Sniper Drama From 'Blacklist' Producers Gets NBC Pilot Pickup

NBC is expanding its relationship with The Blacklist producers.

The network has handed out a pilot order to Endgame, a drama thriller from Blacklist's Davis Entertainment and Leverage co-creator John Roger, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Endgame, from Sony Pictures Television where Davis Entertainment is under an overall deal, centers on a former sniper — how timely. While working as a security expert for the wealthy, he is wrongly accused of the slaying of his wife. A syndicate of powerful people offer him freedom in exchange for stopping high-stakes crimes as he looks to avenge his wife's death and uncover the conspiracy among his mysterious employers.

Rogers will pen the script and executive produce alongside Davis Entertainment's John Davis and normal">John Fox. The drama landed at NBC with a hefty pilot-production commitment.s

The news comes as The Blacklist, starring James Spader, is poised to get its biggest push to date with the prime post-Super Bowl time slot next month before it moves to anchor NBC's new Thursday night lineup at 10 p.m. The drama, now in its second season, was among the network's keys to rebuilding its fortunes last season after launching hot out of the gate following normal">The Voice on Monday.

With the pickup, Endgame brings NBC's drama pilot haul to five. It joins Ugly Betty creator Silvio Horta's The Curse of the Fuentes Women; Diana Son's Love Is a Four Letter Word; and magical martial arts entry Warrior.

Sounds like it'll be a mashup of Leverage, Blacklist, The Fugitive, and Person of Interest, maybe? Stopping crimes before they happen? Vigilantism?

I miss Leverage, so I'm hoping this is in a similar vein and has the same blend of comedy and humor, but then again, with the dead wife bit... maybe not?

Also at NBC:

NBC Adds Greg Berlanti Amnesia Thriller to Pilot Orders

NBC is anxious to add a thriller for the upcoming season, picking up another conspiracy-centric drama pilot.

The network has given a pilot order to Blindspot from Greg Berlanti's prolific Berlanti Productions, currently housed at Warner Bros. TV. The project, which centers on a woman with no memory who wakes up naked in Times Square, has been in development since August.

Written and executive produced by Martin Gero (Bored to Death), Blindspot's nude amnesiac is covered in detailed tattoos that immediately catch the eye of the FBI. Once her ink is revealed to be some sort of road map, a conspiracy much larger than her mysterious appearance emerges.

Earlier Friday, NBC added a Las Vegas-set conspiracy thriller about a former sniper turned security expert who's wrongly accused of the killing of his wife. With the pickup, Blindspot brings NBC's drama pilot haul to six.

The project marks Gero's latest TV foray following The CW's Canadian import The L.A. Complex. He's repped by WME. Berlanti is with WME and Felker Toczek.

Edit: Lol, Deadline update about Endgame:

http://deadline.com/2015/01/endgame-thriller-pilot-john-rogers-blacklist-nbc-1201355012/

There appears to be a new twist in the logline for Endgame. In the original description of the project when it was sold to NBC in September, the lead was a former intelligence officer. That was a background the character had throughout the development process until he was listed today by NBC as a former sniper. This year, NBC already tweaked the lead characters on another drama project, Love Is A Four Letter Word, just before the pilot order, making the central couple black, likely influenced by one pop culture phenomenon, Fox’s breakout hit Empire. Now the network may have done the same on Endgame in light of the blockbuster success of the feature American Sniper. I hear the creative auspices of the project may have been unaware of the change.

Chasing dat American Sniper green
 
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