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TV Development for 4/5/16: All the U.S. Acquisitions Out of MIPTV Plus Comedy Central Releases Development Slate

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After the Thrones
Network: HBO Network
Production Company(s): Bill Simmons Media Group
Executive Producer(s): Bill Simmons, Eric Weinberger
Logline: Each week, the show recaps the latest episode of “Game of Thrones,” explaining the who, what, when and where, exploring the complicated politics and history of the series, and offering absurd and not-so-absurd theories about future episodes.
Details: The show discusses the events on the series, “Game of Thrones,” which premiered on HBO in 2011.
SSN Insight: The series will premiere April 24 and continue throughout the upcoming sixth season. It’s the first TV project in HBO’s partnership with the former Grantland chief and ESPN personality. To be hosted by Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan from The Ringer.

Capital
Network: Pivot
Production Company(s): Kudos Film & Television
Executive Producer(s): Peter Bowker, Derek Wax, Lucy Richer
Writer(s): Peter Bowker
Logline: A London street is transformed by soaring property prices, inhabited by characters diverse in nationality, race, wealth and experience. There are stories of love, loss, wealth and envy, in a city where appearances can be deceptive and money can’t buy you happiness.
Details: Based on the novel, “Capital,” written by John Lanchester and published by W. W. Norton & Company on June 11, 2012.
SSN Insight: Out of MIPTV news, Pivot has acquired rights in the U.S., Shaw has taken Canada, and BBC Worldwide took Australia and New Zealand.

Cooper’s Treasure
Network: Discovery Channel
Production Company(s): AMPLE
Executive Producer(s): Ari Mark, Phil Lott, Joseph Boyle
Logline: Treasure hunter Darrell Miklos attempts to decode a treasure map of his boyhood idol and longtime friend, NASA astronaut Gordon Cooper. Along with a group of experienced explorers and researchers, Miklos is now setting out to uncover this treasure and fulfill his friend’s dream.
SSN Insight: Discovery gave a series order on March 30.

Dean Strang: Road To Justice
Production Company(s): Covert Media
Executive Producer(s): Dean Strang, Saul Goldberg
Logline: Series will investigate big legal cases that demonstrate major flaws in the criminal justice system. It will be shot in vérité style similar to Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. Strang, who examined a possible corruption of the legal system in his book on the 1917 Milwaukee bombing and the trial that followed.
SSN Insight: Former Steven Avery co-counsel Dean Strang starred in Netflix’s popular docuseries Making A Murderer. The eight-episode series, now in development, is the first TV project for Covert Media. Series is in development.

Elsewhere
Network: TV Land
Production Company(s): Brillstein Entertainment Partners
Executive Producer(s): Robin Schwartz
Writer(s): Noelle Valdivia, Corinne Kingsbury
Logline: A successful but shallow woman, after dying in a car accident, realizes she prioritized all the wrong things in her life. Now, she has a second chance to achieve enlightenment against all odds — in purgatory.
SSN Insight: Valdivia’s credits include Ash vs. Evil Dead, Manhattan and Masters of Sex.

Famous
Network: Fox Broadcasting Company
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television
Production Company(s): No Production Company Available.
Executive Producer(s): Ralph R Farquhar
Writer(s): Ralph R Farquhar, Ty Hodges
Logline: Dating high school teachers Fred and Geneva both secretly aspire to work in Hollywood. He wants to be a screenwriter and she envisions stardom as a pop diva. One of those dreams miraculously comes true when Geneva lands a record deal after her first music video goes viral and logs millions of views. As she rises to stardom, he feels pushed to the sidelines. Can this couple survive or will they discover that being famous and in love makes for a complicated threesome?
SSN Insight: Fox has given a series order of ten episodes.

Hard Evidence: OJ Is Innocent
Network: Investigation Discovery
Production Company(s): Objective Media Group America/All3Media America
Executive Producer(s): Martin Sheen, Jimmy Fox, Greg Lipstone, Layla Smith, William C. Dear
Logline: Series will focus on Dallas-based private investigator William C. Dear, who has gathered undisputed facts and critical new evidence to build a new theory that Simpson is innocent. He teams with former LAPD forensic psychologist Kris Mohandie and Rhode Island police Sgt. Derrick Levasseur to re-examine the case from beginning to end, revealing compelling new information that points the finger directly at a new suspect.
SSN Insight: The ordered six-episode series will also be narrated by Sheen. The series is from Objective Media Group America/All3Media America, with Jimmy Fox, Greg Lipstone, Layla Smith, Sheen and Dear serving as executive producers.

His Dark Materials
Network: BBC 1
Studio: New Line Cinema
Production Company(s): Scholastic Media, Bad Wolf
Executive Producer(s): Philip Pullman, Jane Tranter, Julie Gardner, Toby Emmerich, Carolyn Blackwood
Writer(s): Jack Thorne
Logline: Orphan Lyra lives in a parallel universe, in which science, theology and magic are entwined. Based on the novel series.
Details: Based on the novel series, “His Dark Materials,” written by Philip Pullman and published by Alfred A. Knopf.
SSN Insight: BBC has given a series order.

Manifesto
Network: Discovery Channel
Production Company(s): Trigger Street Productions, Giant Pirates Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Kevin Spacey, Dana Brunetti, Troy Searer, John Goldwyn
Writer(s): Andrew Sodroski
Logline: The show explores how the FBI caught infamous criminal masterminds, with each closed-ended season following a different case. The first season will focus on the FBI agent, a highly specialized linguist, who used unconventional means bring Ted Kaczynski, aka the “Unabomber,” to justice after nearly a 20-year manhunt.
Details: Based on real FBI cases.
SSN Insight: Discovery gave a series order on March 31.

Marcella
Network: Netflix
Production Company(s): Buccaneer Media
Executive Producer(s): Hans Rosenfeldt, Nicola Larder, Tony Wood
Writer(s): Hans Rosenfeldt
Logline: Set in contemporary London, a detective in her late 30s returns to the Metropolitan Police’s Murder Squad after a 12-year career break to start a family. With the abrupt end to her marriage and isolated from her daughter at boarding school, Marcella returns to work while attempting to make sense of what’s happened in her life. She is immediately assigned to investigate a spate of recent killings which bear the hallmarks of unsolved murders committed over a decade prior, a case on which she first worked in 2003. Has the killer reappeared or is a copycat murderer responsible for these recent deaths?
SSN Insight: Netflix has acquired exclusive worldwide streaming rights to the eight-part drama, sold by Cineflix Rights, premiering on ITV in the UK. Netflix will premiere it July 1.

Sacred Steel
Network: Discovery Channel
Production Company(s): Half Yard Productions
Executive Producer(s): Sean Gallagher, Abby Greensfelder, John Jones, Craig Coffman, Christo Doyle
Logline: A look inside one of the world’s most exclusive and unusual bike clubs, which also produces custom-made high-end motorcycles and restores vintage classics.
SSN Insight: Discovery has given a series order.

Sharp Objects
Network: HBO Network
Production Company(s): Blumhouse Productions, Entertainment One
Executive Producer(s): Gillian Flynn, Jason Blum, Charles Layton, Jessica Horowitz Rhoades, Marti Noxon
Writer(s): Marti Noxon
Logline: Centers on reporter Camille Preaker, who after a short stay at a psych hospital must return to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls — and deal with her neurotic, hypochondriac mother and the half-sister she barely knows. She must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story and survive the homecoming. Based on the novel by Gillian Flynn.
Details: Based on the novel, “Sharp Objects,” written by Gillian Flynn and published by Shaye Areheart Books on September 26, 2006.
SSN Insight: HBO has given a series order of eight episodes. Project was previously in development as a feature film.

The Secret Agent
Network: Acorn
Production Company(s): World Productions
Executive Producer(s): Polly Hill, Simon Heath
Writer(s): Tony Marchant
Logline: Verloc’s seedy Soho shop hides his role as an agent of the Russian Embassy, spying on a group of London anarchists. Furious that Britain tolerates violent extremists, the Russians want Verloc to provoke a bomb outrage that will trigger a government crackdown. Caught between the Russians and the British police, Verloc drags his unsuspecting family into a tragic terror plot.
Details: Based on the novel, “The Secret Agent,” written by Joseph Conrad and published in 1907.
SSN Insight: Content Television sold the show to RLJ Entertainment’s Acorn in the U.S. The four-parter will air BBC One later this year and will stream in the U.S via Acorn TV.

The Wheel
Network: Discovery Channel
Production Company(s): Pilgrim Studios
Executive Producer(s): Craig Piligian, Samuel Korkis, Joseph Boyle, Kyle Wheeler
Logline: Competitors attempt to survive inhospitable landscapes around the world. With little preparation time, participants switch from freezing tundra to parched deserts, rugged mountains, steamy jungles and other challenging environments, each of which requires a very different skills set.
SSN Insight: Discovery gave a series order on March 30.

Untitled Selena Gomez Aaron Kaplan Drama Series
Network: Freeform
Studio: Universal Cable Productions
Production Company(s): July Moon Productions, Kapital Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Aaron Kaplan, Selena Gomez, Mandy Teefey
Logline: The story is set in a low income Latino neighborhood and told through the eyes of an 18-year-old girl destined for greatness.
Details: Based on an idea by Aaron Kaplan, who was inspired by a speech given by Los Angeles high school student Ana Cobarrubias
SSN Insight: Kaplan also executive produced the Freeform series Chasing Life and Kevin From Work.

Untitled Steve Harvey Mark Burnett Reality Project
Network: ABC Entertainment Group
Studio: MGM Television Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Steve Harvey, Mark Burnett
Logline: The show brings together sets of rival entrepreneurs who competitively pitch their ideas head to head in front of a live studio audience. The audience will then vote on which entrepreneur will receive funding for their idea. Steve Harvey will become the “funder of dreams,” as he brings his personal business experience and encouraging comedy as the host.
SSN Insight: ABC gave a series order of 13 episodes.

Comedy Central

Awkwafina
Network: Comedy Central
Logline: The series focuses on a heightened version of Nora Lum, better known as rapper Awkwafina, as she navigates the underground hip hop community in Queens.
SSN Insight: CC has given a script commitment. Nora will next be seen in Neighbors 2 coming out this summer.

Best Seller
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): Gloria Sanchez Productions
Executive Producer(s): Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Jessica Elbaum, Olivia Wilde
Writer(s): Nora Kirkpatrick, Dennis McNicholas
Logline: Set in the world of a third rate home shopping network. After the reigning queen of the channel is electrocuted on-air during a hair drying demonstration gone wrong, her three venomous power hungry disciples enter into a cutthroat competition for her coveted time slot.
SSN Insight: Nora Kirkpatrick’s past series include Chasing Life and Jennifer Falls. CC has given a script commitment.

Casey Vs.
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Casey Jost, Krister Johnson, Marla Ratner, Jim Biederman
Writer(s): Krister Johnson
Logline: The most extreme survival guide ever made teaches viewers how to handle everything from the zombie apocalypse to an alien invasion.
Details: Initial Commitment: Script
SSN Insight: CC has given a script commitment. Johnson is a writer on Wet Hot American Summer: First Day At Camp and Children’s Hospital.

Delco Proper
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Tommy Pope, John McKeever
Writer(s): Tommy Pope, John McKeever
Logline: The series centers around a family owned lumber yard and its blue collar crew made up of hardworking locals who never left their hometown in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Details: Based on the Comedy Central digital series, “Delco Proper.”
SSN Insight: CC has given a script commitment. John McKeever was a consulting producer on Almost Genius for truTV.

Do You Want To See A Dead Body?
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): FunnyOrDie, Abominable Pictures
Executive Producer(s): Rob Huebel, Jonathan Stern, Owen Burke, Nicholas Jasenovec
Writer(s): Rob Huebel
Logline: Rob takes a celebrity guest on a “Stand by Me” like quest to see a dead body, but along the way they get into all sorts of crazy adventures.
Details: Ordered to pilot.
SSN Insight: CC has given a pilot order. Rob Huebel will be seen in The House film for New Line.

Drunk Girl/High Guy
Network: Comedy Central
Writer(s): Sarah Walker
Logline: The series follows the adventures of two best friends and work wife/work husband in New York City – a girl who is almost always drunk, and a guy who is almost always high.
Details: Initial Commitment: Script
SSN Insight: CC has given a script commitment. Walker was a story editor and writer on MTV’s Awkward.

East 89th
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Sean Donnelly, Danny Solomon
Writer(s): Sean Donnelly, Danny Solomon
Logline: The show centers around the dysfunctional doormen of a luxury high-rise building on East 89th Street in New York City.
Details: Based on Sean Donnelly’s real life experiences.

Initial Commitment: Script
SSN Insight: CC has given a script commitment. Sean Donnelly is also behind the CC series Jeff and Some Aliens, ordered to series and The Amazing Danny in development.

Germany
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): Free Association
Executive Producer(s): Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin, Peter Kiernan
Logline: A community of germs live in a Petri dish at the University of Berlin. The series explores the trials and tribulations of diverse microorganisms living in a microcosm of our world – complete with political scandals, climate change and vaccination deniers.
Details: Initial Commitment: Pilot presentation
SSN Insight: Channing Tatum will star and produce the animated series that was given a pilot presentation order.

GERP
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): Electric Dynamite
Executive Producer(s): Jack Black
Writer(s): Dick Blasucci, Janine DiTullio
Logline: This show within a show follows a federal worker who hosts a government produced variety TV show from inside his cubicle during the work day. It’s all part of the Government Entertainment Recovery Program created in response to a decline in the American spirit and laughter over the past 10 years. Their mission statement is simple, give every American citizen a reason to feel good about themselves again through ‘high energy’ bipartisan entertainment.
SSN Insight: CC has given a script commitment. Black’s also an EP on the Comedy Central Untitled Female Basketball Team Comedy Project in the pilot stage.

Hood Adjacent
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): Brillstein Entertainment Partners
Executive Producer(s): James Davis, Doug Karo, Alex Murray, Shawna Kornberg
Writer(s): James Davis, Doug Karo
Logline: James Davis, who was born and raised in South Central, one block away from where the sh** goes down, uses his multifaceted hybrid brand of comedy to share his unique take on the world.
Details: Based on the Comedy Central original series, “Swag-A-Sauraus with James Davis” on Snapchat Discover.
SSN Insight: CC gave a pilot order.

Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Jeff Ross, Joel Gallen, Amy Zvi, Willie Mercer, Brian Moses
Logline: The special is a no-holds-barred verbal boxing match where comedians go head-to-head in a battle of wit and insults. Led by the Roastmaster General, Jeff Ross, and the referee/comedian, Brian Moses, this Fight Club of comedy is presented in a bracket style competition where two comics in each round face off, roast each other and a winner is declared by a celebrity panel of judges.
SSN Insight: CC has given a series order.

Jeff Ross Roasts the Police
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Jeff Ross, Nick McKinney, Meghan O’Hara, Stu Miller, Amy Zvi
Logline: Jeff looks at the complicated national issues surrounding policing; from race, profiling and excessive force to the risks officers take every day and the effect that police work has on their lives, families and health. To understand what it means to be a cop in America today, Ross steps behind the thin blue line for a ride-along/Roast-along with a cross section of officers from a major, metropolitan police force. Along the way, Jeff meets with perps, anti-police activists, newly-minted cadets and seasoned top brass.
SSN Insight: CC has given a series order. Ross is currently seen on the series Dr. Ken in the role of Doug.

Kevin Hart Presents: Hart of the City
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): 3 Arts Entertainment, Hartbeat Productions
Executive Producer(s): Kevin Hart, Dave Becky, Leland Wiggington, Michele Armour
Logline: Kevin Hart travels to different cities to explore the local comedy scenes in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Birmingham, Miami and Sacramento. He introduces some of the newest voices in comedy today.
SSN Insight: CC gave a series order of eight episodes.

Legal-ish
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): On the Day Productions
Executive Producer(s): Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone
Writer(s): David Storrs, Steve Mallory
Logline: A well-meaning slacker finds himself on the jury bench of the longest-running case at his local courthouse.
SSN Insight: CC gave an initial script commitment.

Live From Everywhere
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): Sharp Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Matt Sharp, Dan Adler
Logline: The series uses live streams to orchestrate unpredictable hangouts with celebrities and comedians.
SSN Insight: CC ordered the pilot. Dan Adler also has EP credits on Deadliest Job Interview, Hack My Life, Tethered, Call of the Wildman and others.

New Timers
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Matt Porter, Charlie Hankin
Logline: After an apocalyptic event, two guys now live their day-to-day in what’s left of Brooklyn, looking for adventures, new friends and ways to pass the time.
Details: Based on the Comedy Central digital series, “New Timers,” which premiered in 2014.
SSN Insight: CC has given a script commitment.

Problematic with Moshe Kasher
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): 3 Arts Entertainment, Serious Business
Executive Producer(s): Moshe Kasher, Alex Blagg, Jason U. Nadler, Jonathan Zimelis, Dave Becky
Writer(s): Alex Blagg
Logline: Moshe Kasher uses his own brand of “comedy journalism” to crawl into the social media muck of our most polarizing issues, provocative questions and heated arguments and dissect them in front of a studio audience. The show seeks to understand the current culture of online outrage and discuss previously unexamined viewpoints on a number of topics in a stimulating and comedic debate.
SSN Insight: CC has ordered the pilot. Moshe Kasher can be seen in the latest Zoolander film.

Rudy
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): Pacific Electric Picture Co.
Executive Producer(s): Ed Helms, Michael Falbo
Writer(s): Robert Padnick
Logline: Childish “cholo” Rudy Cisneros, after serving a 15-year prison sentence, wants to dissociate from gang life and start being there for his wife, kids and abuelita.
Details: Based on Mike Catherwood’s childhood and his “Rudy” character on “Loveline.”
SSN Insight: CC has given an initial commitment of a pilot presentation.

Storytime
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): Above Average Production Company
Executive Producer(s): Chioke Nassor
Logline: Three comedians recreate personal stories by playing every character in their story in dreamlike reenactments. In between segments, the performers and a host sit at a roundtable dissecting and reacting to one another’s stories in front of a live audience.
Details: Based on the web series created by Chioke Nassor.
SSN Insight: CC gave a pilot order. Nassor was a director and staff writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Tijuana Beach
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): UnbeliEVAble Entertainment
Executive Producer(s): Tommy Dewey, Greg Bratman, Al Madrigal, Eva Longoria
Writer(s): Tommy Dewey, Greg Bratman, Al Madrigal
Logline: A Mexican American father inherits a rundown resort from his uncle and relocates his family to Mexico.
SSN Insight: CC has given a script commitment.

Typical Rick
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): CC Studios
Logline: Nick Swardson and Simon Rex are best friends from the Midwest who move to Hollywood in an attempt to chase their dreams. Unfortunately for this odd couple, Rick turns out to be the worst “plus one” in history, constantly imploding any chance of success with the same inappropriate party-guy antics he’s displayed their whole lives.
SSN Insight: Ordered to series, but will be a digital series composed of five episodes.

Untitled Jessica Williams Comedy Project
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Jessica Williams
Writer(s): Jessica Williams, Naomi Ekperigin
Logline: Storyline under wraps.
SSN Insight: CC gave a pilot order. CC has signed a talent development deal with The Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams.

Untitled Jordan Klepper Project
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Jordan Klepper, Kirsten Ames
Logline: Jordan Klepper hosts a late-night talk show.
SSN Insight: CC has given an initial commitment of a pilot presentation. CC has signed a talent development deal with Jordan Klepper.

Untitled Justin Willman Project
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): Brillstein Entertainment Partners
Executive Producer(s): Justin Willman, Chris Hardwick, Stuart Miller, Alex Murray, Tim Sarkes
Logline: Comedian Justin Willman aims to fix the world’s greatest problems and social injustices using the only logical method we have left: Magic.
SSN Insight: CC gave a pilot order.

Untitled Kevin Hart Stand-Up Series
Network: Comedy Central
Production Company(s): 3 Arts Entertainment, Hartbeat Productions
Executive Producer(s): Kevin Hart, Dave Becky, Leland Wiggington
Logline: Kevin Hart will spotlight one up-and-coming comedian each episode.
SSN Insight: CC gave a series order of six episodes.

Untitled Kyle Dunnigan Project
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Kyle Dunnigan, Kim Caramele, Amy Schumer
Writer(s): Kyle Dunnigan, Kim Caramele
Logline: Set at a superhero academy where a professor has unimpressive powers.
SSN Insight: CC gave an initial script commitment. Kyle Dunnigan was recently seen in the film Trainwreck.

Untitled Rachel Feinstein Comedy Project
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Rachel Feinstein, Amy Schumer, Kim Caramele, Brennan Shroff, Steve Ast
Logline: Featuring hidden camera segments, Feinstein goes undercover to perform social experiments that tackle a different issue or theme each week. The series includes stand-up, sketch and conversations with comedians where Feinstein riffs on the week’s theme.
SSN Insight: CC has given a pilot order.

Used People
Network: Comedy Central
Executive Producer(s): Michelle Wolf, Dan Soder, Brian Stern, Daniel Bodansky
Writer(s): Michelle Wolf, Dan Soder
Logline: Uptight Michelle and stoner Dan spend their days arguing, obsessing over their messy personal lives and – theoretically – selling used cars.
Details: Based on the Comedy Central digital series, “Used People,” which premiered in 2016.
SSN Insight: CC has given a script commitment. Wolf also provided voice talent on The Awesomes.


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