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[08/31/11 - 10:59 PM]
Development Update: Wednesday, August 31
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
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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!
DA BRICK (HBO) - John Boyega ("Attack the Block") is set to topline the drama pilot, about an up-and-coming Newark boxer and his crew, with Milauna Jemai, Julito McCullum and Kamahl Naiqui Palmer also landing roles. Boyega will play Donnie, "who, after his release from juvenlie detention on his 18th birthday begins an exploration of what it means to be a man for himself and those around him." Jemai then is on board as Donnie's estranged mother Lynette with McCullum as Donnie's best friend/growing albatross Kevin and Palmer as Malik, the moral center of Donnie's tight group of friends. Spike Lee is directing the project from a script by John Ridley with Mike Tyson, Doug Ellin and Jim Lefkowitz also serving as executive producers. (THR.com)
FORTUNE HUNTERS (TNT, New!) - Mark Burnett has booked another potential reality franchise at the network. No specifics were given about the project other than it involves contestants seeking treasure. (Variety.com)
H.I.K.E. (TNT, New!) - Forest Whitaker and Amanda Green are developing a drama at the cable channel about "a female cop [who] runs the Home Invasion Kidnapping Enforcement team" in Phoenix, the kidnapping capital of the U.S. Whitaker and Green are co-writing and executive producing. No studio was indicated. (Variety.com)
ISLAND TIME (TNT, New!) - Joel Field and Josh Brand are behind a potential drama at the network about a woman who "chucks her corporate life when she wins a bar on a Pacific island and decides to reinvent herself among the island's eccentric residents." Jonathan Barch and Rob Wolken are also on board to executive produce however no studio was indicated. (Variety.com)
THE ORDER (TNT, New!) - Joel Fields has booked a drama at the network about "an archeologist professor who ends up working in Israel engaging in various digs that explore life's real questions of faith and meaning." DreamWorks Television is behind the hour, which Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank and Zafir Kochanovsky will executive produce alongside Fields. (Variety.com)
PERFECT SET (TNT, New!) - Nina Coleman has snagged a script order from the network for a potential "Hart to Hart"-esque drama about a quirky brother and sister who solve crimes. Alan Loeb is also on board to executive produce for Lionsgate Television. (Variety.com)
THE RIVER (ABC) - Scott Michael Foster ("Greek") is set to recur on the midseason drama as "a thrill-seeking, adventurous cameraman who may be hiding a secret." Said involvement is part of a talent holding deal the actor recently signed with the network. The pact calls for the Alphabet to develop a new series project for the actor. (Deadline.com)
ROMANCING THE STONE (NBC, New!) - Mark Friedman ("The Forgotten") is spearheading a small screen take on the Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner-led, Robert Zemeckis-helmed film of the same name. Said hour, which would track "a successful but unfulfilled woman who teams with a risk-taking adventurer to take on weekly missions while on a larger quest to find her missing brother," comes from 20th Century Fox Television and the studio-based 21 Laps/Adelstein Productions. Shawn Levy then would direct and executive produce alongside Friedman, Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements. NBC has given a script order to the project with a penalty attached should it not go to pilot. (Deadline.com)
RUSH (TNT, New!) - Allan McDonald has landed a script commitment from the cable channel for "a Rashomon-style hospital drama about life in the ER." Sony Pictures Television is behind the hour with Kevin Falls and the studio-based Jamie Tarses executive producing alongside McDonald. (Variety.com)
SANDBOX (Cinemax, New!) - Feature writers Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore ("Red Dawn") are developing a new drama at the pay channel about "a group of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who return to the Coachella Valley to discover their hometown has been overrun by criminals [and] decide to use the skills they learned in combat to clean up the town, with unexpected results." Steve Kronish ("24") is on board to supervise the duo and executive produce alongside Larry Gordon and Chuck Gordon. (Deadline.com)
THE SECTOR (Cinemax) - The proposed sci-fi drama, about the commander of a paramilitary unit who pursues a dangerous new race of genetically-enhanced humans, is no longer set up at the pay channel. It's understood Discovery sibling Science is being eyed as a potential home for the series, which comes from Scott Free Productions and Tandem Communications. Aaron and Matthew Benay created the hour, with Simon Mirren and Anne Thomopoluos among the executive producers. A new writer is expected to come aboard the hour, which had a script - not a series, as previously reported - commitment at the network. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED BILL LAWRENCE/GREG MALINS PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Bill Lawrence ("Cougar Town") and Greg Malins ("Better With You") have landed a pilot production order from the Eye for a new workplace comedy. The duo will co-write the multi-camera half-hour for Warner Bros. Television, where each has an overall deal. No details about the project however were given. Lawrence and Malins then will also executive produce alongside Lawrence's Doozer chief Jeff Ingold. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED GHOST HUNTERS PROJECT (TNT, New!) - DreamWorks Television is developing a potential hour at the cable channel about "a motley crew of young friends find their calling as investigators of paranormal disturbances and join forces to fight crime against the mysterious ghosts that haunt their city." Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank and Brian Henson are executive producing however no writing auspices were given. (Variety.com)
UNTITLED GREG BERLANTI/NICK WOOTTON PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Greg Berlanti has booked another put pilot commitment, this time at CBS for a drama about "a young, ambitious police officer who quickly rises to detective - maybe too quickly - after breaking up a major drug ring and becoming a hero." Nick Wootton ("Chuck") is penning the hour and will executive produce alongside the Warner Bros. Television-based Berlanti. The prolific Berlanti also has a put pilot order at FOX for "Guilty," a drama penned by Marc Guggenheim. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED JON HARMON FELDMAN PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Jon Harmon Feldman ("No Ordinary Family") is back in business with the Alphabet for another high-concept drama about "a charming ex-con who realizes that he's receiving video links to the news reports of the beautiful, ambitious TV crime reporter who once upon a time put him away" - 24 hours before they're filmed. ABC Studios, where Feldman's overall deal is based, is producing while Robert M. Sertner is also on board to executive produce. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED MARTY SCOTT/TONI KOTITE PROJECT (FOX, New!) - Feature writers Marty Scott and Toni Kotite ("Parent Class") have landed a script commitment from the network for a new drama "centering on a working-class Hispanic lawyer." Said hour comes from 20th Century Fox Television and fellow executive producers Jennifer Kelly and Harvey Myman. (Variety.com)
UNTITLED ROB BRAGIN PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Rob Bragin ("Greek") has snagged a script order for a potential legal drama centering on a father and a son. CBS Television Studios is behind the hour with Samuel L. Jackson and his UppiTV banner also executive producing. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED ROBERT BORDEN PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Robert Borden ("Outsourced") has booked a potential single-camera comedy at the Alphabet about the lives of two families - the Sloppys and the Perfects - set about 100 years in the future. ABC Studios is producing the half-hour, additional details of which weren't given. (Variety.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - "Nikita" alumnus Tiffany Hines will recur as a police officer on "90210" (THR.com); Chris McKenna will likewise turn up on "90210" as a charming businessman who falls for Shenae Grimes's Annie (EW.com); Stacey Dash won't return for season two of VH1's "Single Ladies" (EW.com); Benito Martinez and David Rees will turn up as a Mexican cartel member and a ATF agent, respectively, on "Sons of Anarchy" (EW.com); Justin Bruening and Robbie Amell are bound for the October 21 installment of "CSI: NY" (TVLine.com); plus David Koechner and Catherine Dent will both turn up in episode four of "Chuck" this season (TVLine.com).
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