American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story
Production Company(s): Stephen David Entertainment, Alta Loma Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Stephen David, Peter Jaysen, Dick Rosenzweig
Logline: Series to span over six decades of American history, telling the dual narrative of Hefner’s personal life, intertwined with the evolution of the country he sought to change.
Details: Based on the life of Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy.
SSN Insight: The “hybrid” docudrama style miniseries is currently being shopped to networks and slated to begin production in 2016. The producers will have full access to Hefner’s video and photographic archives and the Playboy library, which includes more than 60 years the magazine and unpublished material.
Barry
Network: HBO Network
Executive Producer(s): Bill Hader, Alec Berg
Writer(s): Bill Hader, Alec Berg
Logline: An ex-Marine works as a low-rent hitman in the Midwest. Lonely and dissatisfied in his life he begrudgingly travels to Los Angeles to kill someone and ends up finding an accepting community in a group of eager hopefuls within the L.A. theater scene.
SSN Insight: HBO ordered the pilot on January 11.
Behind The Mask
Production Company(s): SYCO Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Simon Cowell
Logline: Based on the book about a sex club that organizes decadent events in secret locations for the world’s elite. There, people explore their innermost fantasies and deepest sexual desires in a safe but sexually-charged environment. It is a club where women make all the rules and men must be invited to participate.
Details: Based on the memoir, “Behind The Mask: Enter a World Where Women Make – and Break – the Rules ,” written by Emma Sayle and published by HarperCollins on April 24, 2014.
SSN Insight: Behind The Mask is Sayle’s debut book. Cowell currently serves as a judge and executive producer on America’s Got Talent.
Chance
Network: Hulu
Studio: Fox 21 Television Studios
Executive Producer(s): Michael London, Kem Nunn, Alexandra Cunningham, Lenny Abrahamson, Brian Grazer
Writer(s): Kem Nunn, Alexandra Cunningham
Logline: Follows Eldon Chance, a San Francisco-based forensic neuropsychiatrist who reluctantly gets sucked into a violent and dangerous world of mistaken identity, police corruption and mental illness. After an ill-advised decision regarding an alluring patient who may or may not be struggling with a multiple personality disorder, Chance finds himself in the cross hairs of her abusive spouse, who also happens to be a ruthless police detective.
Details: Based on the novel “Chance,” written by Kem Nunn and published by Scribner on February 18, 2014.
SSN Insight: Hulu has given a two season order of 20 episodes.
Gypsy
Network: Netflix
Studio: Universal Television
Executive Producer(s): Lisa Rubin, Liza Chasin, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner
Writer(s): Lisa Rubin
Logline: Jean Holloway, a therapist, begins to develop dangerous and intimate relationships with the people in her patients’ lives.
SSN Insight: Rubin’s future projects include adapting best-selling novel I Was Here by Gayle Forman for New Line and adapting the novel Food Whore for DreamWorks.
Knightfall
Network: History
Production Company(s): Midnight Radio, The Combine
Executive Producer(s): Don Handfield, Jeremy Renner, Richard Rayner, Jeff Pinkner, André Nemec
Logline: The series chronicles the actual events leading up to and following the persecution, downfall and burning at the stake of the Knights Templar on Friday the 13th, 1307. based on a true story.
Details: Based on the true story of the fall of the Knight Templar.
SSN Insight: History has given a series order for 10 episodes.
Made In LA
Network: Freeform
Studio: ABC Studios
Production Company(s): Orchard Films, Fake Empire
Executive Producer(s): Mila Kunis, Cami Curtis, Susan Curtis, Lisa Sterbakov, Sascha Rothchild
Writer(s): Sascha Rothchild
Logline: The story details how two friends founded a global clothing brand on just $200. Based on the memoir, ” “The Glitter Plan: How We Started Juicy Couture for $200 and Turned It into a Global Brand.”
Details: Based on the memoir, “The Glitter Plan: How We Started Juicy Couture for $200 and Turned It into a Global Brand,” written by Juicy Couture founders Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor and published by Gotham on May 29, 2014.
SSN Insight: This is the fourth collaboration between Rothchild and Fake Empire. They’re most recent team-up was on CW’s drama The Carrie Diaries.
Maleficio
Network: Starz
Production Company(s): Televisa USA
Executive Producer(s): Mauricio Katz, Pedro Peirano
Writer(s): Mauricio Katz, Pedro Peirano
Logline: Don Enrique De Martino, a powerful Mexican businessman makes a deadly pact with the Devil.
Details: Based on the Mexican series “El Maleficio,” which originally aired on Canal de las Estrellas in 1983-84.
SSN Insight: Mauricio Katz is also the creator and executive producer behind Nino Santo, a pilot being developed for A&E.
Marlon
Network: NBC Entertainment
Studio: Universal Television
Production Company(s): 3 Arts Entertainment, Unnamed Marlon Wayans Company
Executive Producer(s): Marlon Wayans, Christopher Moynihan, Rick Alvarez, Michael Rotenberg
Logline: An inappropriate but loving father is committed to successfully co-parenting with his polar opposite ex-wife.
Details: Loosely inspired by the real life of Marlon Wayans.
SSN Insight: NBC initially gave a put pilot commitment back in September, but has now ordered the pilot.
No Dumb Questions
Network: truTV
Production Company(s): Big Breakfast/College Humor
Executive Producer(s): Sam Reich, Spencer Griffin, Jon Cohen
Logline: Led by host Emily Axford, a team of comedy journalists poses the questions you didn’t think to ask, but once you hear them, you have to know the answers.
SSN Insight: truTV gave a pilot order on January 7.
Nobodies
Network: TV Land
Production Company(s): On the Day Productions
Executive Producer(s): Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone, Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf, Rachel Ramras
Writer(s): Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf, Rachel Ramras
Logline: Inspired by the real lives of Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf and Rachel Ramras, who watched as their friends from The Groundlings went on to star in blockbuster comedies and win Oscars, while they toiled away writing for children’s television.
Details: Inspired by the real lives of Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf and Rachel Ramras.
SSN Insight: TV Land gave an initial script commitment back in July and has since ordered the pilot.
One Day at a Time
Network: Netflix
Studio: Sony Pictures Television
Production Company(s): Act III Productions, Snowpants Productions, Small Fish Studios
Executive Producer(s): Norman Lear, Gloria Calderon Kellett, Mike Royce, Michael Garcia
Writer(s): Mike Royce, Gloria Calderon Kellett
Logline: This modernized multi-camera comedy revolves around a Cuban-American family where the heroine is a recently separated, former military mom who is navigating a new single life while raising her radical teenage daughter and socially adept tween son with the help of her old-school Cuban-born mom and a friends-without-benefits building manager named Schneider.
Details: Based on series “One Day at a Time,” which ran for 9 seasons on CBS from 1975-1984.
SSN Insight: Netflix has given a series order for 13 episodes.
People of Earth
Network: TBS
Studio: Warner Horizon Television
Production Company(s): Conaco Productions
Executive Producer(s): Conan O’Brien, Greg Daniels, Jeff Ross, David Kissinger, Dan Halsted
Writer(s): David Jenkins
Logline: A serious journalist is tapped to write an article about an alien abduction support group. Initially dismissive, he gradually learns that he has more in common with these people than he’d like to admit. Eventually, he must accept that either he is having a nervous breakdown or that the small, upstate town of Beacon, New York is about to be invaded by aliens.
SSN Insight: Marylouise Burke was previously attached to star, but has been replaced by Nancy Lenehan. TBS has given a series order of 10 episodes.
Pour Vida
Network: Starz
Production Company(s): Big Beach
Executive Producer(s): Marc Turtletaub, Dan Pasternack, Erin Keating
Logline: Twin sisters Brook and Lyn Hernandez inherit an East LA building from the recently deceased aunt who raised them. They open Pour Vida, a new wine and tapas bar, in a building in Boyle Heights which houses a failing lesbian bar below and a village-like collection of Eastside denizens in three units above.
Details: Inspired by a short story by Richard Villegas, Jr.
SSN Insight: Marc Turtletaub’s credits include Little Miss Sunshine, Sunshine Cleaning and Safety Not Guaranteed.
Powerless
Network: NBC Entertainment
Studio: Warner Bros. Television
Production Company(s): DC Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Ben Queen, Michael Patrick Jann
Writer(s): Ben Queen
Logline: Set at one of the worst insurance companies in America, the show is about the reality of working life for a normal, powerless person in a world of superheroes and villains. The series follows ordinary, “power-less” folk working at the insurance company who often envy the man and women outside their window who make headlines with their supernatural powers.
Details: Based on characters from DC Comics.
SSN Insight: NBC gave a pilot order. Queen previously created and executive produced A to Z for NBC that was also from Warner Bros. Television.
Santeria
Network: Starz
Executive Producer(s): Alejandro Brugués, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale
Logline: Cuba’s doors are finally open to the world. But a secret war brews there, a clash between opposing sects of Santeria, the ancient religion born on the island. Two undercover agents investigating a bizarre murder are pulled into this supernatural conflict and discover it’s more dangerous and far-reaching than anything they could have imagined.
SSN Insight: Alejandro Brugues previously directed From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series and wrote and directed the film Juan of the Dead.
Six
Network: History
Studio: A+E Studios
Production Company(s): The Weinstein Company
Executive Producer(s): William Broyles Jr., David Broyles, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein, Alfredo Barrios Jr.
Writer(s): William Broyles Jr., David Broyles, Alfredo Barrios Jr., Bruce C McKenna, Karen Campbell
Logline: A Navy SEAL Team Six’s mission to eliminate a Taliban leader in Afghanistan goes awry when they uncover a U.S. citizen working with the terrorists.
Details: Based on an idea by Harvey Weinstein and inspired by real Navy SEAL missions.
SSN Insight: History has given a series order of eight episodes.
Tales from the Crypt
Network: TNT
Production Company(s): Blinding Edge Pictures, Endgame Entertainment, Aloris Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan, James D. Stern, John Santilli, Daniel McKinnon
Logline: An anthology horror series. Based on the comic book.
Details: Based on the 1950s EC Comics series created by William Gaines. The comic also aired as the HBO series “Tales From the Crypt,” which premiered on June 10, 1989.
SSN Insight: TNT has given a series order. Shyamalan executive produced and directed the pilot for Wayward Pines, the TV series that was a ratings winner for Fox.
The Son
Network: AMC
Production Company(s): Sonar Entertainment, ShineBox SMC
Executive Producer(s): Brian McGreevy, Lee Shipman, Michael Connolly, Philipp Meyer
Writer(s): Lee Shipman, Brian McGreevy, Philipp Meyer
Logline: A multi-generational epic telling of the story of America’s birth as a superpower through the bloody rise and fall of one Texas oil empire.
Details: Based on the novel, “The Son,” written by Philipp Meyer and published by Ecco on May 28, 2013.
SSN Insight: Originally planned as a limited series, before AMC was attached. AMC has given a straight-to-series order for the drama.
Time Traveling Bong
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Ilana Glazer, Paul W Downs, Lucia Aniello, Dave Becky
Logline: Two cousins discover a time-traveling bong and ride high as they blaze through time. Their buzz is killed when the bong breaks and the cousins are forced to bounce around the space time continuum, learning to appreciate there’s no time like the present.
Details: Ordered to series. Network has ordered 3 episodes. (1/6/2016)
SSN Insight: Comedy Central has given a limited series order of three episodes. Glazer, Downs and Aniello all currently work on Broad City.
Untitled Courteney Cox/Robert Padnick Charity Project
Studio: ABC Studios
Executive Producer(s): Robert Padnick, Courteney Cox, James Griffiths, Thea Mann
Writer(s): Robert Padnick
Logline: Centers on Hailey, a woman who inherits her late billionaire husband’s charity and quickly finds that changing the world is far less glamorous than she had imagined.
SSN Insight: Courteney Cox will star in the project and James Griffiths is set to direct the potential pilot. Cox will make her feature directorial debut in Hello I Must Be Going, with Seann William Scott & Kate Walsh attached to star.
Untitled Jake Gyllenhaal Cult Anthology Drama Project
Network: A+E Networks
Studio: A+E Studios
Production Company(s): Nine Stories Productions
Executive Producer(s): Jake Gyllenhaal, Riva Marker
Logline: The series will explore a different major cult personality and the provocative nature of belief each season. Season 1 would focus on the notorious story of Jim Jones and his cult The Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ. The series would chronicle Jones’ path from social leader and passionate integrationist to deranged spiritual dictator over a group of followers committed to his dangerous philosophy of faith, culminating in a mass murder-suicide in which 918 people died at the group’s Guyana compound in November 1978.
SSN Insight: A+E Networks will handle global sales. This is the first series that Jake Gyllenhaal has created.
Untitled Matt Hubbard/ Mike Schur Couple Project
Network: NBC Entertainment
Studio: Universal Television
Production Company(s): 3 Arts Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Matt Hubbard, Michael Schur, David Miner
Writer(s): Matt Hubbard
Logline: Centers on a happily-married interracial couple, Andrew and Josie, whose lives take a turn when they move close to Josie’s family in Missouri.
SSN Insight: NBC initially gave a production commitment back in September and has since ordered a pilot.
Untitled Phil Lord/Chris Miller Time Travel Project
Network: Fox Broadcasting Company
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television
Production Company(s): Lord Miller
Executive Producer(s): Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Julius Sharpe
Writer(s): Julius Sharpe
Logline: Revolves around three friends who find a way to travel through time for truth, justice, and riches, which complicates their lives in 2016. They visit some of the greatest moments of the past as they try to resolve their personal problems, while history and pop culture comically collide.
SSN Insight: Fox gave an initial commitment of put pilot back in October and has since ordered the pilot. This marks a second pilot order for Lord and Miller at Fox, the first being for Son of Zorn.
ABC
Marvel’s Most Wanted
Network: ABC Entertainment Group
Studio: ABC Studios
Production Company(s): Marvel Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Jeffrey Bell, Paul Zbyszewski, Megan Thomas Bradner, Jeph Loeb
Writer(s): Jeffrey Bell, Paul Zbyszewski
Logline: Ex-Spies and ex-spouses Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter are on the run with no friends, no S.H.I.E.L.D. and every one of their enemies looking to claim a bounty on their heads. While uncovering the conspiracy that put their lives in jeopardy, these two heroes will go anywhere and save anyone in need.
Details: Based on the Marvel character, Mockingbird. The project is planned as a spinoff of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” which premiered on ABC in 2013.
SSN Insight: Rolled from the 2015-2016 season. ABC has given a pilot order.
Pearl
Network: ABC Entertainment Group
Studio: ABC Studios
Executive Producer(s): Andrew Reich
Writer(s): Andrew Reich
Logline: Centers on a larger-than-life family matriarch who, after she finds out she has cancer, becomes intent on controlling and orchestrating every aspect of her family’s life before she dies.
SSN Insight: ABC has given a pilot order as of January 11. Reich was previously a writer on Work It and Romantically Challenged for ABC.
Speechless
Network: ABC Entertainment Group
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television
Executive Producer(s): Scott Silveri, Jake Kasdan, Melvin Mar
Writer(s): Scott Silveri
Logline: A family with a special-needs child is good at dealing with the challenges it faces and excellent at creating new ones.
SSN Insight: The project was originally developed at Fox for the 2015-2016 season, for which it received a put pilot commitment with penalty but was not picked up. ABC ordered the pilot on January 11.
The Jury
Network: ABC Entertainment Group
Studio: Sony Pictures Television
Production Company(s): Carol Mendelsohn Productions
Executive Producer(s): V.J. Boyd, Carol Mendelsohn, Julie Weitz
Writer(s): V.J. Boyd, Mark Bianculli
Logline: Follows a single murder trial a season as seen through the eyes of the individual jurors, exploring the biases and experiences that influence the jurors’ judgment, and how their preconceptions change along the way.
SSN Insight: ABC gave an initial commitment of a pilot with a significant penalty back in August. ABC gave the official pilot order on January 7.
NatGeo
Barkskins
Network: National Geographic Channel
Production Company(s): Scott Rudin Productions
Executive Producer(s): Scott Rudin
Logline: A pair of poor Frenchmen travel across North America, China and New Zealand in the 17th century. Based on the novel.
Details: Based on the novel, “Barkskins,” written by Annie Proulx and set to be published by Scribner on June 14, 2016.
SSN Insight: Rudin is also an executive producer on the upcoming TV series, School of Rock to air on Nickelodeon.
Blood Ivory
Network: National Geographic Channel
Studio: FX Productions
Production Company(s): DNA Films
Writer(s): Joshua Brand
Logline: The series traces the massive global web of contraband animals and ivory, and its connection to the trafficking of narcotics, people and weapons. It exposes a shocking underworld that rewards greed and bloodshed while helping to fund the madness of terrorist regimes.
SSN Insight: Brand served as a writer on The Americans and previously wrote the screenplay for Mystery, Alaska.
Mygrations
Network: National Geographic Channel
Production Company(s): October Films
Executive Producer(s): Matt Robins, Jos Cushing, Chris Muckle, Douglas McCallie
Logline: A “herd’ of 20 elite men and women attempt to complete the world’s most famous animal migration across Africa. The human herd must brave harsh elements, deadly predators and each other as they attempt to endure Africa’s grueling Wildebeest migration through the Serengeti to the Mara River as they use their expert survival skills on a 200-mile, six-week journey.
SSN Insight: NatGeo has given a limited series order of six episodes.
One Strange Rock
Network: National Geographic Channel
Production Company(s): Protozoa Pictures, Nutopia
Executive Producer(s): Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Jane Root, Arif Nurmohamed, Peter Lovering
Logline: The series explores how intricate, interwoven and fragile life as we know it is on Earth and how rare it may be in the universe.
SSN Insight: The project is envisioned as an event series and NatGeo has given a series order. Aronofsky is also in development on the MaddAddam pilot for HBO.
Original Sin: How Sex Changed The World
Network: National Geographic Channel
Production Company(s): World of Wonder Productions
Executive Producer(s): Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Tom Campbell, Dan Partland, Kevin Tao Mohs
Logline: The series will look at the sexual revolution of the past half-century and how it has affected culture, science, and politics in the U.S. and around the world. It will uncover the surprising ways sex impacts humanity and how it’s changed during the past 50 years.
SSN Insight: NatGeo has given a series order of six episodes. Bailey is currently attached as a director on the upcoming HBO series, Mapplethorpe: Look At the Pictures and Every Brilliant Thing.
Untitled Sebastian Junger Syria & Iraq Documetary Project
Network: National Geographic Channel
Executive Producer(s): Nick Quested, Sebastian Junger
Logline: Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested explore the complexities of the war in Syria and Iraq as they gain access to clandestine organizations to offer a look at one of the most serious threats faced by the Western world.
SSN Insight: Sebastian Junger is a filmmaker, author and journalist, nominated for an Oscar for his documentary, Restrepo in 2010.