28 Jan 2015 12:05 PM PT
We will be providing briefs of what comes out of the studios or independent project development on a daily basis and summarizing them in daily posts. These will be a quick way to attempt to keep everyone updated on movement of projects. This post is updated throughout the day. So check back for the latest updates.
Also See Sundance Film Festival Daily Blog
ABC/DISNEY/AMC FAMILY
ABC gave the green-light to Jenna Bans (Grey’s Anatomy & Scandal alum), Mandeville Productions and ABC Studios on a drama, Flesh and Blood. Bans penned the project which is about the return of a politician’s young son, who was presumed dead after disappearing over 10 years earlier, sending shockwaves through their tight-knit community. The neighbor, who was convicted for his murder is released and the arresting cop responsible for the erroneous arrest and conviction, must re-examine the case to uncover what truly happened years earlier.
Bans will Executive Produce the pilot with Mandeville’s David Hoberman, Todd Liberman and Laurie Zaks.
AMC NETWORKS
CBS/CW/CBSFILMS/SHOWTIME
CBS announced that Mehcad Brooks has been cast as James “Jimmy” Olsen, the new love interest for Supergirl (who will be played by Melissa Benoist). Supergirl and the role of Jimmy are based on the DC Comics character. Jimmy is an attractive photographer at Catco, the media company where Zara Zor-El works, as an assistant to yet-to-be cast Cat Grant. Supergirl is Executive Produced by Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler and Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. The hour-long pilot is penned by Berlanti and Adler.
CBS ordered three more pilots. The first is a drama, Limitless, a sequel to the 2011 Relativity feature starring Bradley Cooper. Limitless is written and Executive Produced by Craig Sweeny. Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Bradley Cooper are also Executive Producing the show. Neil Burger will Direct the pilot and be Executive Producing alongside Ryan Kavanaugh, Tucker Tooley and Tom Forman through Relativity. The story follows Brian Sinclair (played by Cooper in the film version) as he discovers the power of a mysterious drug NZT. The FBI coerce Sinclair into using his new-found drug-enhanced abilities to help solve cases.
Also ordered were two comedies from Dan O’Shannon and Tad Quill.
The first untitled comedy revolves around a group of friends and family during three different times in their lives. The pilot is written O’Shannon (former Modern Family EP) and Peter Warren. O’Shannon, Clark Peterson & Dennis Erdman Executive Produce for CBS Studios, with Eric Tannenbaum and Kim Tannenbaum for studio-based Tannenbaum Company. Warren will be the supervising producer.
The third pilot ordered, is a comedy, Angel from Hell written by tad Quill. Allison and Amy’s lives intersect and they form an unlikely friendship. Amy claims to be Allison’s guardian angel, but Allison canot be sure if Amy truly is an angel or just a little bit crazy.
DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION (AOL, AMAZON, HULU, NETFLIX, YAHOO)
Netflix – Yesterday we reported that Neflix project Wet Hot American Summer would include the original cast members. Today we learned that Kristen Wiig, Chris Pine, Jon Hamm and Jason Schwartzman will also be joining the limited series for guest star/recurring roles. Deadline reports that Hamm will play a secret spy, Wiig is playing a snobby counselor at the preppy rival camp Camp Tigerclaw, Schwartzman is the boy’s camp head counselor while Pine’s character is described as mysterious.
DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS (DISCOVERY CHANNEL)
FOX ENTERTAINMENT GROUP/FOX SEARCHLIGHT
A pre-World War II Limited Series, Those Angry Days, is being developed at FX by Noah Wyle (Falling Skies) and Graham Yost (Justified) which will look at the political battles in the US over the decision to enter the Second World War. The project is being developed with Sony Pictures TV and FX Productions and will look at the period between 1937 and 1941 where war was spreading across Europe but many in Congress took an isolationist approach and fought against America becoming involved and coming to Britain’s aid (to fight against Hitler). Those Angry Days will be Executive Produced by Wyle, Yost, Jim Katz and Danny Sussman.
HBO
HBO gave the go-ahead to a new comedy pilot, Brothers in Atlanta that will guest star former SNL alums Maya Rudolph and Jaden Smith opposite Diallo Riddle and Bashire Salahuddin. Riddle and Salahuddin, former writers/performers of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, will pen the pilot as well as perform in the show. Lorne Michaels will Executive Produce the project.
Brothers in Atlanta is a story about struggling entertainers and best friends who try to navigate relationships and life in general in the black Mecca of Atlanta. Langston (played by Riddle) is an Atlanta native and an aspiriing DJ whose career has stalled due ot his lack of focus and his “get rich” schemes. Moose (played by Salahuddin) is new to Atlanta who is a backup singer with dreams of being in the spotlight. Moose has a problem with talking before thinking and always seems to have his foot in his mouth. Maya Rudolph will play Shirle, the demanding boss that Moose reports to who is an R&B diva, her heyday being in the 1990s. Smith will play Curtis, who is Langston’s rowdy neighbor who always seems to have suspicious income and unpredictable interests. Both Rudolph and Smith will recur if the pilot is picked up to become a series.
NBC/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is in talks with China’s Hunan TV and Brodcast Intermediary Co. Ltd. on an agreement worth $1.5 Billion spanning the next three years. The discussions cover financing, distribution, local Chinese production, and television, according to Variety. See More Details.
PARAMOUNT STUDIOS
Skydance, according to TheWrap, is currently in negotiations with Brad Pitt to star in Angelina Jolie’s drama, Africa, a biopic about Richard Leakey, the renown archaeologist who became well known for his defense of the elephants against poachers in Kenya in the 1980’s. Pitt would play Leakey. Jolie is producing with Skydance’s David Ellison and Dana Goldberg, as well as Jon Peters. Production is slated to begin this summer. While Skydance has a deal with Paramount Studios, they currently are not involved in the project. See More
SONY/TRISTAR
WARNER BROS.
INDIE
EuropaCorp is developing a new comedy, Nine Lives, about a man that becomes trapped into the body of a cat. It will star Kevin Spacey. Daniel Antoniazzi and Ben Shiffrin penned the script and Barry Sonnenfeld will Direct the project. Spacey will play a workaholic businessman that through an unusual and horrible accident leaves him trapped inside the body of a family cat. EuropaCorp will be financing and producing the film led by US Film President, Lisa Ellzey.
Di Bonaventura Pictures, Outlaw Productions and LD Entertainment are developing Born to Run, based on the best-selling book by Christopher McDougall Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, And The Greatest Race The World Has Never Seen. Matthew McConaughey has been attached to star in the feature. LD Entertainment is financing the project. Mickey Liddell, Deb Newmyer and Lorenzo di Bonaventura are producing the project. Michael Carnahan has scripted the adaptation. See More
Fortitude International is backing a project called This Man, This Woman, scripted by Frederick Raphael that will be directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Penelope Cruz and Diane Kruger. Mike Lobell is Producing and Nadine deBarros and Robert Ogden Barnum are Executive Producing with Fortitude International providing financing. The story is about a man and woman that meet by chance on a plane and relive memories of their turbulent romantic relationship. See More
BBC Films, developer of Consider Yourself, has just had Geoffrey Rush(The King’s Speech) join the cast of the musical feature, who will play composer Lionel Bart who wrote the score for Oliver! Consider Yourself all-star cast also includes Stephen Fry (Sherlock Holmes), Olivia Colman (Broadchurch), Eddie Marsan (Snow White and The Huntsman), Matt Lucas (Alice in Wonderland), Michelle Dockery (Downtown Abbey) and Al Weaver (Marie Antoinette) as younger Bart. The feature is written by Elliot Davis. Paul Brooks and Vadim Jean are producing the picture and Tony-Award winning choreographer Peter Darling is also attached to the project. Good Universe will handle sales in Berlin.
Consider Yourself introduces us to Lionel Bart who was an untrained musician who could not read or write music and at the same time became the first person to have three West End musicals running. In the early 1960’s Bart was earning more in song royalties than the Beatles, but he managed to lose it all. The story follows his rise and fall and eventual resurgence with a final chance to reclaim his music and his reputation.
CMPC Studios in Taiwan released the following statement on Martin Scorsese-directed, Silence:
“Today there was an unfortuante accident at CMPC Studios in Taiwan, where the Martin Scorsese film, Silence, is in pre-production. An existing structure on the CMPC backlot had been deemed unsafe by the production, and accordingly a 3rd-party contractor was hired to reinforce and make it safe prior to any production-related work commencing in this building. Sadly, during this process, the ceiling collapsed, resulting in the death of one of the contractor’s employees and injuries to two others. Everyone is in shock and sorrow and expresses their deepest concern and sympathy to the families of the individual who died and those who were injured.”
Silence, which is to star Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, is based on the Shusako Endo novel Silence.