Friday, January 20, 2017

Development News - Lili Mirojnick Boards Syfy's 'Happy!'; Hulu Passes on 3 Pilots; Plus 3 More Updates!

Development News - January 20, 2017

ABC's Raised by Wolves; CBS' Me, Myself and I; Hulu's Citizen, Crushed & When the Street Lights Go On; NBC's Untitled Kourtney Kang; and Syfy's Happy!.




HULU's CITIZEN
  • The streaming service has passed on its drama pilot Citizen. The pilot was written by Josh Pate, Nicholas Schutt and director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. All three executive produced with David Kanter, Matt DeRoss and Steve Golin. Paramount Television and Anonymous Content produced. The project was a fresh take on the hero origin story blending elements of magical realism and gritty vigilantism set against the backdrop of a vibrant, "supernaturalized" Los Angeles. The cast included Augusto Aguilera, Alex Gonzalez, Forrest Goodluck, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Johnny Ortiz, Tom Waits and Amanda Plummer.
HULU's CRUSHED
  • The online network has also passed on its comedy pilot Crushed. The pilot was written and directed by Tina Gordon Chism. She executive produced with Stephanie Allain Bray. Lionsgate Television produced. The project centered on an African-American family who stumble into a successful wine business in Napa. Their unorthodox approach to wine making and unique life style then create complications. The cast included Regina Hall, Bashir Salahuddin, Colm Feore, Alex Kingston and Jacob Vargas.
HULU's WHEN THE STREET LIGHTS GO ON
  • And lastly, the streamer has passed on the drama pilot When the Street Lights Go On. The pilot was written by Chris Hutton & Eddie O'Keefe and directed by Brett Morgan. They executive produced with Chad Hamilton, Tariq Merhab, Michael Sugar and Steve Golin. Paramount Television and Anonymous Content produced. The project was a coming-of-age thriller about a sleepy, suburban town that is rocked by the brutal murder of a high school girl and her teacher in the summer of 1983. The cast included Odessa Young, Max Burkholder, Kelli Mayo, Ben Winchell, Graham Beckel, Luke Kirby, Cory Hardrict and Adam Long. However, the producers have taken the pilot to the Sundance Film Festival where it will be screen this weekend in the hopes of finding a new network home.
SYFY's HAPPY!
  • Lili Mirojnick (Public Morals) has been cast as the female lead on the drama pilot starring Christopher Meloni. She will play Detective Meredith McCarthy, a tough homicide detective in a man's world. She's a good cop who's had to swallow her pride and give up her ideals to save her job and protect her elderly mother. Will the secrets of her past bring damnation - or redemption?
NBC's UNTITLED KOURTNEY KANG PROJECT
  • NBC has picked up its first comedy pilot of the season - an untitled single-camera comedy written by Kourtney Kang (Fresh Off the Boat). She will executive produce with Nahnatchka Khan, Mandy Summers and pilot director Fred Savage. 20th Century Fox Television and Fierce Baby Productions will produce. Based on Kang's life, the project explores what it's like to grow up as the only girl in the only mixed race family in the suburbs of Philadelphia, dealing with real-world issues like race and gender while never losing focus on her life goal - to become a Laker Girl like her idol, Paula Abdul. Additionally, Isabella Russo (Broadway's School of Rock) has been cast in the lead role, Katie.
CBS' ME, MYSELF AND I
  • The broadcast network has ordered a pilot for single-camera comedy Me, Myself and I written by Dan Kopelman (Galavant). He executive produces with Aaron Kaplan and Dana Honor. Warner Bros. Television and Kapital Entertainment produce. The project examines one man's life over a 50-year span. The series will explore three distinct periods in his life - as a 14-year-old in 1991, a 40-year-old in present day and a 65-year-old in 2042.
ABC's RAISED BY WOLVES
  • ABC is teaming with Greg Berlanti once again this pilot season. The network has ordered a pilot for single-camera comedy Raised by Wolves based on the U.K. series of the same name. The pilot is written by Diablo Cody (United States of Tara, Juno). Cody and Berlanti executive produce with Sarah Schechter, Caitlin Moran, Caroline Moran, Kenton Allen, Matthew Justice and Caroline Leddy. Warner Bros. Television, Berlanti Productions and Big Talk Productions produce. The project centers on Sheila Gable, a tough mother struggling to support her five opinionated, eccentric kids on a shoestring budget in a Midwestern town.