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[10/09/20 - 11:45 PM]
Development Update: Friday, October 9
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!


AMERICAN HERITAGE (ABC, New!) - Matt Lopez has scored a put pilot commitment from the Alphabet for "an epic drama about two Latinx immigrant families vying for wealth, power, and the American Dream in California's Sonoma Valley." Adam Kolbrenner of Lit Entertainment Group will also executive produce for ABC Signature. (Deadline.com)
GREEN LANTERN (HBO Max) - Seth Grahame-Smith and Marc Guggenheim have been tapped to spearhead the DC Comics series, which has formally received a 10-episode order. Grahame-Smith will serve as showrunner on the project, which "will depict the adventures of a multitude of Lanterns, including Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz and Alan Scott - Earth's first Green Lantern, who, true to the comics, is a gay man - and many more. The series will also include fan favorites such as Sinestro and Kilowog, and will also introduce new heroes to the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps." (Variety.com)
KE NUI ROAD/THINGS THAT MAKE WHITE PEOPLE UNCOMFORTABLE (HBO Max, New!) - John Wells has set up a pair of projects at the streaming service via Warner Bros. Television. Matt Kester is writing "Ke Nui Road," "a contemporary drama set on the North Shore of Oahu, focusing on the relationships between an elite crew of heavy-water lifeguards and the teens and young adults they mentor and train in the junior lifeguard program." Wells and Erin Jontow will also executive produce. And Rodney Barnes is behind the one-hour anthology series "Things That Make White People Uncomfortable," inspired by Michael Bennett and Dave Zirin's book of the same name. "Each episode will take a hard look at how white liberal thought has impacted American society and contributed to the state of race relations in America today." Wells and Jontow will likewise executive produce alongside Anthony Hemingway Productions' Anthony Hemingway and Lyah LeFlore with Michael Bennett as consulting producer. (Deadline.com)
LANDSCAPERS (HBO) - Will Sharpe is set to take over from Alexander Payne as director on the Olivia Colman-led drama. Payne, who was also set to executive produce, has pulled out of the project "to direct a 2021 original feature project of his own that has seasonal filming requirements." (Deadline.com)
LONG HAUL, THE (FOX, New!) - Katie Lovejoy has landed a script-to-series commitment ("a pilot script, a backup script and a short bible with an option for additional material") from the network for a drama "set against the backdrop of the hyper-masculine world of long haul trucking. It is about a young mother and her teenage daughter who flee their small-town. The series charts the journey of these two disenfranchised women navigating life on the road and their dysfunctional relationship, as they slowly, mile by mile, take their power back." Josh Berman and Jennifer Robinson of the Sony Pictures Television-based Osprey Productions will also executive produce for FOX Entertainment. (Deadline.com)
MAGIC ORDER, THE (Netflix) - The streaming service has opted not to proceed with its small screen take on the Mark Millar comic book series. Writer Lindsey Beer and director James Wan were among the auspices on the project, which had been in early pre-production in Prague for a targeted 2021 start. (Deadline.com)
MAID (Netflix) - Tracy Vilar has been cast in the Margaret Qualley-led drama as Yolanda, "the owner of "Value Maids," the cleaning business that eventually employs "Alex" (Qualley). A woman who suffers no fools and runs a tight ship, Yolanda has managed to survive in a world (and economy) which is not always kind to her." (Deadline.com)
MORNING SHOW, THE (Apple TV+) - Greta Lee and Ruairi O'Connor are both bound for the new season. She'll play Stella Bak, "an ambitious leader of an online media company that caters to a millennial and Gen Z audience"; while O'Connor is set as Ty Fitzgerald, "a charismatic and savvy YouTube star." (Deadline.com)
PANDORA'S BOX AND SHIP (The CW, New!) - Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith have sold a potential drama to the netlet about "the selfish and sarcastic, Lou Tucker, who is a grifter and her latest scam is stealing from packages at the Box and Ship where she works to make ends meet. But, when she opens a package that contains Pandora's actual Box, she inadvertently unleashes all of the mythological evils of the ancient world into our modern one. And, unfortunately for humanity, it's going to be up to her, a bookish Professor of Greek Mythology, and a group of unqualified misfits to put them all back in." The project is set up at their Warner Bros. Television-based In Good Company with Spondoolie's Rob Thomas and Dan Etheridge also executive producing and Rebecca Franko producing. (Deadline.com)
RED BIRD LANE (HBO Max) - The horror series pilot has cast Susan Sarandon as Catherine, "a welcoming and beautiful hostess with a devious secret"; Kiersey Clemons as Jane, "a mix of high intelligence and no common sense; she came to the house for drugs"; Isidora Goreshter as Isabelle, "who is sophisticated and hard-edged, although not unkind; she came to the house for pleasure"; Danny Huston as Hugh, "old money and exhausted; he came to the house for resolution"; Ash Santos as Kesha, "who is soft-spoken, elegant, and hard as nails; she came to the house to save a life"; Fiona Dourif as Mikki, "smart and cruel, Mikki is Catherine's right-hand person; she came to the house for fun"; Dizzie Harris as Sam, "who is well-meaning, but in way over her head; she came to the house for hope"; and Tara Lynne Barr as Rose, "young and naive, Rose came to the house out of desperation." In addition, David Slade is slated to direct and executive produce. (Deadline.com)
THIS IS OUR YEAR (CBS, New!) - Chelsea Devantez and Barbie Adler have set up a single-camera comedy at the Eye which "revolves around the chaotic lives of an unpredictable single mom and her unflappable teenage daughter as they try and try again to make it their year." 20th Television is producing with Devantez penning the script from a story by she and Adler. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED PETER ACKERMAN PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Peter Ackerman has booked a single-camera comedy at the Alphabet in which "after a man's college girlfriend comes out to him, they remain friends through the ages, complicating and enriching their current marriages and family lives." Kapital Entertainment's Aaron Kaplan and Dana Honor and TrillTV's Wendi Trilling are also on board to executive produce for 20th Television. (Deadline.com)
YOUNG SHELDON (CBS) - Production on the series was shut down for the day "after a COVID-19 test result for a production team member came back positive." Said member is currently in isolation. Filming is scheduled to resume on Monday. (Deadline.com)





  [october 2020]  
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· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· GREEN LANTERN (HBO MAX)
· LANDSCAPERS (HBO)
· LONG HAUL, THE (FOX)
· MAGIC ORDER, THE (NETFLIX)
· MAID (NETFLIX)
· MORNING SHOW, THE (APPLE TV PLUS)
· PANDORA'S BOX AND SHIP (CW)
· PROMISED LAND (HULU)
· RED BIRD LANE (HBO MAX)
· RESCUE: HI-SURF (FOX)
· THINGS THAT MAKE WHITE PEOPLE UNCOMFORTABLE (HBO MAX)
· THIS IS OUR YEAR (CBS)
· UNTITLED PETER ACKERMAN PROJECT (ABC)
· YOUNG SHELDON (CBS)





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