[07/27/12 - 11:11 PM] Development Update: Friday, July 27 By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
Looking to keep track of all the various projects in development? Click here to visit our signature "Devwatch" section. There visitors can view our listings by network, genre, studio and even development stage (ordered to pilot, cast-contingent, script, etc.). It's updated every day!
AREA 51 (AMC, New!) - Annie Jacobsen's best-selling book is set to be the focus of a potential drama at the cable channel. Todd Ellis Kessler ("Pan Am") is on board to pen the AMC Studios-based hour with Valhalla Entertainment's Gale Anne Hurd ("The Walking Dead") also serving as an executive producer. Jacobsen herself will also receive a co-producer credit. The non-fiction tome, subtitled "An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base," is billed as an oral history of the much-ballyhooed military installation. (NYPost.com)HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS (FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE) (ABC) - Stephanie Hunt has joined the cast of the midseason comedy, about Polly (Sarah Chalke), a single mom who has moved back home with her eccentric parents, Elaine (Elizabeth Perkins) and Max (Brad Garrett). She'll take over for Rebecca Delgado Smith as Jenn, Polly's cool and fun assistant in the half-hour, which comes from the 20th Century Fox Television-based Imagine Television. Jon Dore, Orlando Jones and Rachel Eggleston also star. (THR.com)MODERN FAMILY (ABC) - The network and 20th Century Fox Television have successfully concluded their salary renegotiations with co-stars Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Ed O'Neill and Sofia Vergara. Said group - who subsequently have dropped their lawsuit - will now receive between $170,000-180,000 per episode, up from their current salaries of $65,000 (aside from O'Neill, who was previously over $100,000) an episode as well as annual increases and a piece of the show's back-end. In exchange they'll add an extra year to their seven-year contracts. Production on the new season will begin on Monday with co-creator Steven Levitan slated to direct the opener. (Deadline.com)ROGUE (DirecTV) - Ian Hart ("Luck") has joined the cast of the upcoming drama, about a morally and emotionally conflicted cop, Grace (Thandie Newton), who is tormented by the possibility that her own actions contributed to her son's death. He'll play an Oakland Police Department detective who works with her. Marton Csokas also stars in the project, from creator Matthew Parkhill. Entertainment One Television and Greenroom Entertainment are co-producing. (Deadline.com)SPEAK AMERICAN (USA, New!) - Benjamin Brand ("Bollywood Hero") has landed a new comedy at the network about Lotte Hansen, "a young accent-reduction teacher with unconventional methods [who] forces a group of strangers from around the world to question what it means to be American in the 21st century, and in the process, they form an unlikely family." Andrew Lenchewski ("Royal Pains") will executive produce project, which comes from Universal Cable Productions, with Brand as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)THOSE WHO KILL (A&E) - Feature helmer Joe Carnahan ("The Grey") has been tapped to direct the drama pilot, based on Elsebeth Egholm's novels about "a police detective and a forensic profiler who possess a deep understanding of the serial killers they hunt." He'll also executive produce alongside Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo, Jonas Allen, Peter Bose and writer Glen Morgan for Fox 21 and Imagine Television. (Deadline.com)UNTITLED TRAVIS FICKETT/TERRY MATALAS PROJECT (USA, New!) - Travis Fickett and Terry Matalas ("Terra Nova") have booked a potential drama at the cable channel about "a brother and sister who take over the family's successful investment firm after the untimely death of their parents, only to discover that the business isn't quite what it seems." "Psych" creator Steve Franks is supervising the hour, which is set up at Universal Cable Productions. Tagline Television's Chris Henze and Kelly Kulchak will executive produce alongside Franks with Fickett and Matalas serving as co-executive producers. (Deadline.com)AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Lauren Tom will guest on "Supernatural" as "an intense and overbearing mother to one of the characters on the show," a potentially recurring role (THR.com); Marvel Television is reportedly in conversations with ABC and ABC Studios about doing a drama series set in the world of its blockbuster "Avengers" franchise (Deadline.com); ABC Studios is looking to develop "I Hate Other People's Kids" by Adrianne Frost and "The Intern Files" by Jamie Fedorko as comedies via a new two-year, first-look deal with Ellen Goldsmith-Vein's The Gotham Group (Deadline.com); Franka Potente has booked a two-episode arc on "American Horror Story" as a mysterious patient (TVLine.com); Gregg Henry and Jillian Armenante are both set to recur on "Scandal"(Deadline.com); Billie Joe Armstrong has joined the new season of "The Voice" as a mentor to Christina Aguilera's team (EW.com); and Griffin Gluck's Mason Warner was been upped to series regular on "Private Practice"(TVLine.com).
