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[02/02/10 - 06:55 PM]
Development Update: Tuesday, February 2
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!


ATF (CBS, New!) - Michael Dinner ("Justified") has received a pilot commitment from the Eye for a new drama about "an ATF agent who hunts down the most dangerous criminals while trying to balance life as a dad to his teenage daughter who has re-entered his life." Dinner wrote said hour and will direct and executive produce for Sony Pictures Television and the newly attached CBS Television Studios. Sony-based Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly are also on board as executive producers.


BETWIXT (The CW, New!) - Feature writer Elizabeth Chandler ("Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants") is bringing Tara Bray Smith's young adult novel of the same name to the small screen. Said hour, which has a pilot commitment from the netlet, revolves around three teenagers who learn of their true, "changeling" nature and their uncertain, intertwined destinies after attending a secret summer rave in the woods. Paul Stupin ("Make It or Break It") is executive producing the project alongside Chandler for Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios.


HAWAII FIVE-O (CBS) - Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, co-creators of the Eye's updated take on the police franchise, have inked a three-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television. The pact, financial details of which weren't released, calls for the duo to develop new series projects for the studio via their newly formed production company. The deal however won't overlap with their duties as consulting producers on FOX's "Fringe" or executive producers on the aforementioned "Hawaii Five-O."


HELLCATS (A.K.A. CHEER) (The CW) - The Tom Welling-produced drama has snagged a pilot presentation order from the netlet. Kevin Murphy penned the project, which is set in world of competitive college cheerleading and based on Kate Torgovnick's book "Cheer!" Murphy, Welling and A.J. Marcantonio then will executive produce for Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios.


HMS (The CW) - The netlet has ordered a pilot presentation of the Amy Holden Jones-penned drama, about "the exploits of the sexy freshmen class at Harvard Medical School through the eyes of a young female student." Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios are behind the hour, which also features "Heroes" star Hayden Panettiere as a co-executive producer.


I'M WITH THE BAND (HBO, New!) - Zooey Deschanel ("Tin Man") is developing a new series at the pay channel based on Pamela Des Barres's memoir, "I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie." The project, which Deschanel would star and executive produce, would presumably track Barres's experiences in the 1960s, where she attached herself to members of various rock bands and other celebrities, including Mick Jagger, Brandon de Wilde, Jimmy Page and Don Johnson. Tim Gibbons ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") and Deschanel's manager Sarah Jackson of Seven Summits are also attached as executive producers.


THE QUINN-TUPLETS (CBS, New!) - "Swingtown" creator Mike Kelley is back in business with the Eye, this time for a new drama about "the personal and professional lives of the adult Quinn quintuplets, whose whole lives have been documented on TV." Kelley and Chris Kelley co-wrote the hour, which is based on the Israeli series "The Ran Quartet." CBS has given a pilot presentation order to the project, which is set up at CBS Television Studios. Mike Kelley, Giyora Yahalom, Oren Jakobi, Yona Wiesenthal and Eilon Ratzkovsky are executive producing with Arik Kneller serving as a co-executive producer and Chris Kelley as a producer.


UNTITLED ANITA BRYANT PROJECT (HBO, New!) - The life of former beauty queen, singer and celebrity pitchwoman Anita Bryant is set to be the focus of a potential film at the pay channel. Darren Star ("Sex and the City") is attached to helm and executive produce the project from a script by Chad Hodge ("Runaway"). Bryant - whose resume includes second runner-up for Miss America, three million-selling records, celebrity endorsements, several best-selling books and Good Housekeeping's "Most Admired Woman in America" poll winner for three consecutive years - nevertheless is most linked to her political activism, where her gay rights opposition made national headlines in the late 1970s. Hodge is reportedly looking to talk to Bryant about the project, saying he is going for a nuanced portrayal of her and "what drove her to do the things that she did." Dennis Erdman is also on board as an executive producer.


Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [february 2010]  
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· CHANGELINGS (CW)
· CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (HBO)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· FRINGE (FOX)
· HAWAII FIVE-0 (CBS)
· HELLCATS (CW)
· HEROES (NBC)
· HMS (CW)
· I'M WITH THE BAND (HBO)
· JUSTIFIED (FX)
· LINE, THE (CBS)
· MAKE IT OR BREAK IT (ABC FAMILY)
· QUINN-TUPLETS, THE (CBS)
· RUNAWAY (CW)
· SEX AND THE CITY (HBO)
· SWINGTOWN (CBS)
· TIN MAN (SCI FI)
· UNTITLED ANITA BRYANT PROJECT (HBO)





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