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[11/04/13 - 11:29 PM]
Development Update: Monday, November 4
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!


DELIVERANCE CREEK (Lifetime/Warner Horizon; W: Melissa Carter; D: Jon Amiel) - Wes Ramsey and Christopher Baker are the latest additions to the Civil War-era pilot, about Belle (Lauren Ambrose) who "attempts to defend her family's land by any means necessary and is pushed into becoming an outlaw by the corrupt bank that runs their town." The former will play Nate Cooper, "Deputy of Deliverance, Missouri and one of the few men left behind to uphold the law during the Civil War"; while the latter is set as Cyril Balfour, "a soulless, sadistic and scarred renegade." Christopher Backus, Riley Smith and Yaani King also star. (Deadline.com)


HINDSIGHT (VH1; W: Emily Fox; D: Michael Trim) - Laura Ramsey, Craig Horner and Sarah Goldberg are all the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about Becca, a woman approaching 40 on the verge of her second marriage who wakes up on her wedding day only to discover that it's 15 years in the past and she's about to marry her first husband and still close with her ultimately estranged best friend. Ramsey is set as the aforementioned Becca with Goldberg as her old best friend Lolly and Horner as her first husband Sean. Carl Beverly, Sarah Timberman, Maggie Malina and VH1's Susan Levison and Jill Holmes are also among the executive producers. (Deadline.com)


THE LOTTERY (Lifetime/Warner Horizon; W: Timothy J. Sexton; D: Danny Cannon) - Michael Graziadei, Lesley-Ann Brandt and Louise Lombard have all scored roles on the pilot, a drama set in a world destined for extinction and the ensuing national lottery that is held to decide the surrogates for 100 embryos that have been successfully fertilized. Graziadei will play Kyle, "a recovering alcoholic and single father of one of the last children born in the country"; with Brandt as Casey, "a U.S. soldier longing for a child who jumps at the shot at being a surrogate by participating in the lottery"; and Lombard as Tori, "a formerly free-spirited artist who is now a member of the Washington power elite, an accomplished writer and spinmeister who has the ear of the president." (Deadline.com)


MOZART IN THE JUNGLE (Amazon; W: Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman & Alex Timbers; D: TBA) - Gael García Bernal (Babel) is the first to be cast in the comedy pilot, about sex, drugs - and classical music - and shows that what happens behind the curtains at the symphony can be just as captivating as what happens on stage. He'll play Gustavo, "an enfant terrible who's utterly devoted to his art as a conductor - but also to his image." The project is based on the memoir of the same name by Blair Tindal. (Deadline.com)


THE NOVICE (USA/Fox 21; W: Joe Gayton & Tony Gayton; D: TBA) - Will Yun Lee (The Wolverine) has scored a role on the drama pilot, about Kyle Jones (Shane Coffey), a recent college grad who seizes an unexpected opportunity to make money with a Korean crime family in order to help with his family's debt. He'll play Big Bang, "a thug with a lot of anger issues who is a major player in the Korean syndicate." (Deadline.com)


TEXTS FROM BENNETT (FX, New!) - Director Randall Einhorn ("Wilfred") is looking to bring Mac Lethal's Twitter feed-turned-book of the same name - about the peculiar white ghetto sensibility of his cousin Bennett's texts - to the small screen. Said effort will revolve around rapper Mac Lethal, "who has a problem: his cousin Bennett, a 17-year-old white kid who claims to be 13% black Crip, enjoys a more-than-recreational level of drug use and can't keep a job. When Bennett and his pill-popping mom lose their house, Mac offers to let them stay with him and his WASPy girlfriend Harper at his lovely suburban Kansas City home." FX Productions, home to Einhorn's overall deal, is producing while the search is underway for a writer. (Deadline.com)


UNREAL (Lifetime; W: Marti Noxon & Sarah Gertrude Shapiro; D: Roger Kumble) - Megyn Price, Bryan Batt, Nathalie Kelley and Johanna Braddy are among the latest additions to the drama pilot, about a young staffer (Shiri Appleby) on a hit competition dating series whose lone job is to manipulate the relationships with (and among) the contestants in order to get the vital dramatic and outrageous footage producers demand. Price will Julia, "the executive producer of the reality show at the center of the pilot"; with Kelley as Grace, "a contestant on the series described as a hippie/surf goddess, an Eco-swimwear designer/model who went to boarding school." Batt then will guest as Charles, "a field producer on the unscripted show who fails to find any viable talent for the series"; while Braddy is set as Anna, "an attorney and another contestant on the show." Breeda Wool, Francia Raisa, Freddie Stroma and Josh Kelly also star. (THR.com)


UNTITLED BROWNLEE & MCCLELLAND PROJECT (NBC/Warner Bros.; W: Diane English; D: TBA) - "Murphy Brown" creator Diane English has signed on to pen the multi-camera comedy pilot, featuring "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" standouts Rosie and Sophia Grace Brownlee. The Peacock has likewise given a pilot production commitment to the project, however no firm concept is set. English will also executive produce via her Bend in the Road Productions banner alongside A Very Good Production's DeGeneres and Jeff Kleeman. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Production on NBC's midseason drama "Crisis" has been halted while "writers using the time to tweak storylines and work on scripts" (Deadline.com); "American Dad" co-creator Mike Barker is leaving the series with its transition to TBS "over concerns that the show was not running smoothly" (Deadline.com); MGM Domestic Television Distribution has been tapped to spearhead a nationwide rollout of The E.W. Scripps Company's "Let's Ask America" (Deadline.com); Anna Gunn will guest on "The Mindy Project" as "a high-profile New York doctor with A-list clientele" (EW.com); "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan will appear on "Community" as "a smooth-talking gold digger who winds up exacerbating a fight between Annie (Alison Brie) and Abed (Danny Pudi)" (EW.com); and Jacinda Barrett is set to recur on "The Following" as "a very disarming and alluring woman whose mysterious intentions send several main characters in a frightening new direction" (TVLine.com).






  [november 2013]  
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F
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· AMERICAN DAD (FOX)
· BREAKING BAD (AMC)
· COMMUNITY (YAHOO)
· CRISIS (NBC)
· DELIVERANCE CREEK (LIFETIME)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· FOLLOWING, THE (FOX)
· HINDSIGHT (VH1)
· LET'S ASK AMERICA (SYNDICATION)
· LOTTERY, THE (LIFETIME)
· MINDY PROJECT, THE (HULU)
· MOZART IN THE JUNGLE (AMAZON)
· NOVICE (USA)
· TEXTS FROM BENNETT (FX)
· UNREAL (HULU)
· UNTITLED BROWNLEE & MCCLELLAND PROJECT (NBC)
· WILFRED (FXX)





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