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TV Development for 9/29/15: Amazon Greenlights 6 Pilots, Jason Bateman to Star/Produce/Direct Ozark, BBC One Orders 5 Series

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Network: Fox Broadcasting Company
Studio: Endemol Shine Studios
Production Company(s): Honey I’m Home
Executive Producer(s): Sascha Penn, Jonathan Levine, Pitbull
Writer(s): Sascha Penn
Logline: When Willy is pulled from his rundown high school and sent to live with his uncle, a celebrity chef, and attend the wealthiest private school in Miami, he attempts to acclimate himself to his new surroundings while dealing with relationships, family drama, work and all the problems that more money brings.
SSN Insight: Fox has given an initial commitment of a script plus penalty as of September 24.

Untitled Nicki Minaj Comedy Project
Network: ABC Family
Production Company(s): Kapital Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Nicki Minaj, Kate Angelo, Aaron Kaplan, Stella Bulochnikov Stolper, Brian Sher
Writer(s): Kate Angelo
Logline: The series focus on Nicki Minaj’s time growing up in Queens in the 1990s with her immigrant family and the personal and musical evolution that lead to her eventual rise to stardom.
Details: Based on the early life of Nicki Minaj.
SSN Insight: ABC Family ordered the series on September 29.

Untitled Zoanne Clack Medical Drama Project
Network: ABC Entertainment Group
Studio: ABC Studios
Production Company(s): Shondaland
Executive Producer(s): Zoanne Clack, Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers
Writer(s): Zoanne Clack
Logline: The story centers on a U.S. Army Medevac (medical evacuation) team whose job it is to save lives while risking their own. They operate out of an oddly Americanized base camp in Baghdad circa 2004, where they get on each others’ nerves, sleep with the wrong people, navigate “office” politics and party like there’s no tomorrow.
SSN Insight: Series in development. Clack has a background in medicine, having attended medical school at UT Southwestern before doing her residency in Emergency Medicine at Emory University. She has a Masters of Public Health in Behavioral Sciences.

Aunt Jill
Network: ABC Entertainment Group
Studio: Universal Television
Production Company(s): 3 Arts Entertainment, Paper Kite Productions
Executive Producer(s): Jordan Roter, Amy Poehler, Brooke Posch, Dave Becky
Writer(s): Jordan Roter
Logline: Jill is a smart, confident, hilarious and lovable 50-year-old who chose a different path than most women her age by focusing on her career and social life instead of getting married and having a family. An independent woman her entire life, Jill now has to depend on her judgmental older sister and neurotic millennial niece as she reinvents herself and her career.
Details: Inspired by Jordan Roter’s real-life aunt.
SSN Insight: ABC has given it a put pilot commitment.

Bonita & Mechelle
Network: NBC Entertainment
Studio: Universal Television
Production Company(s): UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, Will Packer Productions
Executive Producer(s): Kriss Turner Towner, Eva Longoria, Ben Spector, Will Packer
Writer(s): Kriss Turner Towner
Logline: Two women, one Hispanic and one African American, find themselves living together while conquering the ups and downs of single life and parenting.
SSN Insight: Eva Longoria already produces two series with Latino protagonists, Devious Maids and NBC’s upcoming Hot & Bothered, in which she stars.

Dance, Dance, Dance
Production Company(s): Talpa Media
Executive Producer(s): John De Mol
Logline: Celebrities and their partners recreate famous dance routines from movies, music videos and musicals.
Details: Based on the Dutch format, “Dance, Dance, Dance,” which premiered in the Netherlands on RTL4 on September 5, 2015.
SSN Insight: Talpa was acquired by ITV earlier this year, and produces the series, The Voice.

Eat Pray Thug
Network: Fox Broadcasting Company
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television
Executive Producer(s): Sanjay Shah
Logline: A successful rapper chooses to live with his Indian-American parents in Queens, New York.
Details: Based on the real life of rapper Heems.
SSN Insight: Fox has given an initial commitment of a script plus penalty as of September 28. Utkarsh Ambudkar is set to star in the comedy.

ESL
Network: Fox Broadcasting Company
Studio: Warner Bros. Television
Executive Producer(s): Masi Oka, Ben Queen
Writer(s): Zak Shaikh
Logline: The story follows the students and teacher of an English-as-a-Second Language class.
SSN Insight: Queen is under an overall deal at Warner Bros TV.

Florent
Network: Showtime
Production Company(s): Magic Lantern Entertainment, StoryBy Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Patricia Resnick, Jonathan Baruch, Rosemary Rodriguez, Howard Braunstein
Writer(s): Patricia Resnick
Logline: Inspired by the life of colorful New York City restauranteur and AIDS activist Florent Morellet. The story will explore the light and dark of that time, as well as the craziness of a place that become a destination for everyone from New York’s literati, to the neighborhood hookers and hustlers, to the NYPD, to the burgeoning LGBT community all through the eyes of Florent.
Details: Inspired by the true story of Florent Morellet.
SSN Insight: The project was previously in development as a drama at the Sundance Channel for the 2014-2015 season. The project is in second position to “The Good Wife” for Cumming.

Untitled Adam Pally Paul Lieberstein Spy Comedy Project
Network: Fox Broadcasting Company
Studio: ABC Studios
Production Company(s): 3 Arts Entertainment, Clone Wolf Productions
Executive Producer(s): Adam Pally, Paul Lieberstein, Howard Klein
Writer(s): Paul Lieberstein, Jon Gabrus
Logline: A comedic take on the spy genre.
SSN Insight: This is the first project sold under Clone Wolf’s two-year overall deal with ABC Studios.

Untitled Mike Schur Matt Murray Workplace Comedy
Network: Fox Broadcasting Company
Studio: Universal Television
Executive Producer(s): Michael Schur, Matt Murray, David Miner
Writer(s): Matt Murray
Logline: Revolves around a larger-than-life federal judge and the overworked twenty-somethings who clerk for him.
SSN Insight: Fox has given an initial commitment of a put pilot on September 25.

Manhood
Network: NBC Entertainment
Studio: Universal Television
Executive Producer(s): Jay Baxter, Shaun Zaken, Rob Long, David Janollari
Writer(s): Jay Baxter, Shaun Zaken
Logline: Three men explore different sides of masculinity in a weekly men’s group meeting, where they cry, beat drums and fire-walk to find the answer.
SSN Insight: Baxter & Zaken most recently developed the single-camera comedy Panic Years for Pivot last year.

Medici: Masters of Florence
Network: RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana
Production Company(s): Lux Vide, Big Light Productions, Wild Bunch
Executive Producer(s): Frank Spotnitz, Matilde Bernabei, Luca Bernabei
Logline: The Medici family ascends from simple merchants to power brokers who spark an economic and cultural revolution, in the process creating a long list of powerful enemies.
Details: Based on the true story of the Medici family.
SSN Insight: Wild Bunch unveiled a new TV division. This is one of the two drama series set, the other is an Italian series called, Four Seasons in Havana. Both will see sales launch at the MipCom market. Wild Bunch has produced eight episodes of each series.

Ozark
Production Company(s): Media Rights Capital, Aggregate Films
Executive Producer(s): Jason Bateman, Bill Dubuque, Mark Williams
Writer(s): Bill Dubuque
Logline: Set at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, the story takes place in the dark and dangerous world of drug money laundering.
SSN Insight: Planned as a straight-to-series project. Bateman will star and direct in addition to executive producing.

Pre-Madonna
Network: NBC Entertainment
Studio: Universal Television
Production Company(s): 3 Arts Entertainment, Paper Kite Productions
Executive Producer(s): Nisha Ganatra, Tami Sagher, Amy Poehler, Brooke Posch, Dave Becky
Writer(s): Nisha Ganatra
Logline: Sarita Gupta enters a Chicago high school in 1983 and navigates the painful and hilarious path of finding out who she really is.
Details: Inspired by Nisha Ganatra’s adolescence.
SSN Insight: NBC has given an initial commitment of a put pilot as of September 23.

Robbers
Network: TNT
Studio: Sony Pictures Television
Production Company(s): Timberman/Beverly Productions
Executive Producer(s): Michael Dinner, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly
Writer(s): Christopher Cook, Michael Dinner
Logline: The show tells the story of a cop, two running buddies on a crime spree across Texas, and the girl who becomes the complication in a very unique love triangle.
Details: Based on the novel, “Robbers,” written by Christopher Cook and published by Carroll & Graf in November, 2000.
SSN Insight: Tim McGraw has left the project. TNT ordered the pilot.

Say Uncles
Network: NBC Entertainment
Studio: Universal Television
Production Company(s): Thruline Entertainment, Aggregate Films
Executive Producer(s): Jason Bateman, Jim Garavente, Willie Mercer
Writer(s): Elon Gold, Boyce Bugliari, Jamie McLaughlin
Logline: A man is caught in the middle of his interfering brothers and his impressionable children.
Details: Based on the real life of Elon Gold.
SSN Insight: Gold is not attached to star in the project.

Straight Outta Calabasas
Network: Fox Broadcasting Company
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television
Executive Producer(s): Dave Jeser, Matt Silverstein
Writer(s): Dave Jeser, Matt Silverstein
Logline: Two profoundly white, liberal LA parents discover their 10 year-old-son is a basketball prodigy. They suddenly find themselves wrapped up in a community they can’t possibly understand, forming an unlikely friendship with a family they have nothing in common with.
SSN Insight: Fox has given an initial commitment of a put pilot.

The A-Team
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television
Production Company(s): Chris Morgan Productions
Executive Producer(s): Albert Kim, Chris Morgan, Tawnia McKiernan
Writer(s): Albert Kim
Logline: A diverse team of American Special Forces operatives has been framed for a crime they didn’t commit and set out to clear their names by uncovering the black-ops conspiracy that set them up. Along the way, they are driven to help those in need by using their singular military skills, high-tech expertise, and often conflicting individual approaches.
Details: Based on the TV series, “The A-Team,” which aired on NBC from 1983-1987.
SSN Insight: Unlike the original all-male team, the new team will include both male and female members.

The Death Of Eva Sofia Valdez
Network: ABC Entertainment Group
Studio: ABC Studios
Production Company(s): Fazekas & Butters
Executive Producer(s): Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters
Writer(s): Charise Castro Smith
Logline: A Cuban-American family on the rise navigates multiple business ventures in Miami, familial rivalries and dark secrets from the past that come back to haunt them.
SSN Insight: This marks the first project sold through Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters’ pod deal the duo inked at ABC Studios this year.

The West
Production Company(s): Stephen David Entertainment, Sundance Productions
Executive Producer(s): Stephen David, Robert Redford, Laura Michalchyshyn
Logline: Recreates the violent world of cowboys, Indians, outlaws and law men and chronicle the intimate, little-known stories of Western legends such as Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. Will show how, in the aftermath of the Civil War, the opportunity of land transforms the United States into the “land of opportunity” and creates modern America.
Details: Project was previously in development at Discovery.
SSN Insight: DRG has acquired international rights to Robert Redford’s docu series, The West, and will be handling sales at Mipcom in October. The mini-series has eight episodes.

Wheeler Dealer
Network: ABC Entertainment Group
Studio: ABC Studios
Production Company(s): Thruline Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Damon Jones, Annie Mumolo, Tim Lovestedt, J.B. Roberts, Willie Mercer
Writer(s): Damon Jones
Logline: A suburban housewife and mother inherits her deceased husband’s struggling car dealership in rural West Texas. In an attempt to make a fresh start, she moves her family out of their plush gated community to run the business, something she knows nothing about.
Details: Inspired by the real life of Damon Jones’ sister.

Amazon Pilot Orders

Edge
Network: Amazon
Studio: Amazon Studios
Production Company(s): Josephson Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Barry Josephson, David Greenblatt, Shane Black, Fred Dekker
Logline: Set in 1868, Josiah ‘Edge’ Hedges is a Union officer turned cowboy, who prowls the post-Civil War American West doling out his own peculiar (and savage) brand of justice. His mission is personal- to avenge his brother’s murder- and his vengeance hath no fury.
Details: Based on the “Edge” book series written by George Gilman.
SSN Insight: Ordered to pilot. The pilot will screen on Amazon Instant Video, and user feedback will determine if it goes forward as a series.

Good Girls Revolt
Network: Amazon
Studio: Sony Pictures Television, Amazon Studios
Production Company(s): Lynda Obst Productions, TriStar Television
Executive Producer(s): Lynda Obst, Jeff Okin, Dana Calvo, Darlene Hunt, Don Kurt
Writer(s): Dana Calvo
Logline: A group of young female researchers at “News of the Week” simply ask to be treated fairly. Their revolutionary request will spark convulsive changes and upend marriages, careers, sex lives, love lives, and friendships.
Details: Based on the sexual discrimination cases chronicled in “The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace,” written by Lynn Povich and published by PublicAffairs on September 10, 2012.
SSN Insight: Ordered to pilot. Lynda Obst also has a pilot she’s producing with Ridley Scott, The Hot Zone over at Fox along wih a slated Disney movie, Further Adventures in Babysitting.

Highston
Network: Amazon
Studio: Amazon Studios
Executive Producer(s): Bob Nelson, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris, Todd Hoffman
Writer(s): Bob Nelson
Logline: Highston Liggetts is a 19-year-old with a wide circle of celebrity friends that only he can see. His parents, Jean and Wilbur, force him to get psychiatric help, but his Uncle Billy thinks he’s just fine.
SSN Insight: Ordered to pilot. Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming films include Alice Through the Looking Glass and Grimsby for Sony.

One Mississippi
Network: Amazon
Studio: FX Productions, Amazon Studios
Production Company(s): Pig Newton, Inc.
Executive Producer(s): Tig Notaro, Diablo Cody, Louis C.K., Dave Becky, Blair Breard
Writer(s): Tig Notaro, Diablo Cody
Logline: Tig Notaro deals with the complex reentry into her childhood hometown of Bay Saint Lucille, Mississippi, to deal with the unexpected death of her mother, the interminable life of the party, Caroline. Reeling from her own recently declining health, Tig struggles to find her footing with the loss of the one person who actually understood her, with help from her older but not always wiser brother, Remy, and her emotionally distant stepfather, Bill. A surprise visit from Tig’s girlfriend, Brooke, only compounds the reality of how out of place Tig is in a world without her mother.
Details: Loosely inspired by Tig Notaro’s life.
SSN Insight: Ordered to pilot. Project was previously in development at FX. Louis CK was previously attached to direct.

The Patriot
Network: Amazon
Studio: Amazon Studios
Executive Producer(s): Steve Conrad, Glenn Ficarra, John Requa, Charlie Gogolak, Gil Bellows
Writer(s): Steve Conrad
Logline: The story follows the complicated life of intelligence officer John Tavner. His latest assignment is to prevent Iran from going nuclear, requiring him to forgo all safety nets and assume a perilous “non-official cover” — that of a mid-level employee at a Midwestern industrial piping firm. A bout with PTSD, the Federal government’s incompetence, and the intricacies of keeping a day job in the “front” industrial piping company, cause a barrage of ever-escalating fiascos that jeopardize Tavner’s mission.
SSN Insight: Ordered to pilot. In addition, Steve Conrad is also writing the features Wonder for Lionsgate and an Untitled John Belushi Project that he will also direct.

Z
Network: Amazon
Studio: Amazon Studios
Production Company(s): Killer Films
Executive Producer(s): Dawn Prestwich, Nicole Yorkin, Christina Ricci, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
Writer(s): Dawn Prestwich, Nicole Yorkin
Logline: A series based on the novel, “Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald”.
Details: Based on the novel, “Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald” by Therese Anne Fowler (2013).
SSN Insight: Ordered to pilot. Dawn Prestwich is also penning the feature Garlic and Sapphires in active development over at Fox 2000.

BBC One Series Orders

Rush Of Blood
Network: BBC 1
Production Company(s): On The Corner, Murderous Productions Limited
Executive Producer(s): No Executive Producer Available.
Writer(s): Matt Charman
Logline: Three couples return from a holiday in Florida and realize one of them must have been responsible for a murder. Based on the novel.
Details: Based on the novel, “Rush Of Blood,” written by Mark Billingham and published by Little, Brown in 2012.
SSN Insight: BBC ordered the series with an order of three episodes.

Troy- Fall Of A City
Network: BBC 1
Production Company(s): Kudos Film & Television
Executive Producer(s): David Farr, Derek Wax, Matthew Read
Writer(s): David Farr
Logline: The story is set against the backdrop of the war between Greece and Troy and focuses on the collapse of one family. When the baby Paris is born, the omens foretell that he will bring about the downfall of the city. Queen Hecuba and King Priam are forced to choose whether to abandon their newborn son to the wolves or save him, but risk the safety of their kingdom. Their choice will decide not only the fate of their child, but the very existence of Troy.
Details: Based on the classic tale of the Trojan War and the events that preceded it , from Greek Mythology.
SSN Insight: BBC has given a series order.

To Sir, With Love
Network: BBC 1
Production Company(s): Rainmark Films
Writer(s): Hanif Kureishi
Logline: Set in London’s East End in the aftermath of World War II, the story centers on Guyanese engineer Ricky Braithwaite who returns from the RAF to find a cold welcome in a Britain which has turned its back on the black men and women who had fought alongside them in the war. He takes a job as a teacher, finding a class of unruly white working-class kids who test him to his limits but whose lives are transformed under his guidance.
Details: Based on the novel, “To Sir, With Love,” written by E.R. Braithwaite and published by Prentice-Hall in 1959.
SSN Insight: BBC has given a series order.

The Last Post
Network: BBC 1
Production Company(s): Bonafide Films, The Forge
Writer(s): No Writer Available.
Logline: The story of a British Army unit fighting a terrorist insurgency in the Middle East and the women and children who were there with them.
Details: Based on the childhood memories of Peter Moffat.
SSN Insight: BBC has given a series order of eight episodes.

The Cormoran Strike Mysteries
Network: BBC 1
Production Company(s): Bronte Film and Television
Executive Producer(s): J.K. Rowling, Neil Blair, Ruth Kenley-Letts, Lucy Richer
Writer(s): Sarah Phelps, Ben Richards
Logline: War veteran turned private detective, Strike investigates shocking crimes together with his female assistant Robin, whose forensic mind and fierce determination he cannot ignore. The murders take them from the hushed streets of Mayfair to the literary haunts of Fitzrovia, exposing the seedy reality lurking beneath seemingly innocent societies. With each crime, they discover a little more about each other and both learn that appearances can be deceptive.
Details: Based on the novels, “The Cuckoo’s Calling” (2013), “The Silkworm” (2014), and “Career of Evil” (2015), written by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) and published by Mulholland.
SSN Insight: BBC has given a series order.


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