David E. Kelley makes a move
After more than twenty years at 20th Century Fox TV, Emmy-winning writer-producer David E. Kelley is packing his bags.
One of the longest and most succesful collaborations in television history is coming to an end as Kelley announced that he is entering into a three-year partnership with Warner Bros. TV.
The new deal, said to be worth around eight figures, will have Kelley developing new shows for broadcast and cable as well as Warner’s digital projects.
Kelley’s deal with 20th Century Fox, which spawned TV hits such as Boston Legal, Ally McBeal and The Practice, expires in June, and the final series under that deal, Boston Legal, is in production for its final season 13-episode order at ABC.
Even though Kelley has been at Fox since his TV career with his job as a writer on L.A. Law in 1986, the change was prompted by Kelley’s desire to deal less with administrative issues and more with creating shows.
While Fox did make an offer for a new deal with Kelley he ultimately opted to go to Warner Bros., partly because of his relationship with studio president Peter Roth, who used to work with him at Fox.
Miss Guided’s Judy Greer gets a new gig
If Judy Greer was in tears about Miss Guided not being picked up by ABC for the fall schedule, she can wipe her eyes and blow her nose because something else — maybe better — has come along. Greer has been cast as the lead in HBO’s Suburban Shootout. This is the same comedy that has already been announced with Kelly Preston, Rachael Harris (Notes from the Underbelly) and Kerri Kenney (Reno 911).
The comedy pilot is being directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, best known for features like Men in Black and Addams Family (I’ll be kind and not harp on The Wild, Wild West), but on TV is one of the prime players behind ABC’s Pushing Daisies (as well as Notes from the Underbelly which is the connection to Rachael). So, you see, Judy may have landed in a project that’s bound for glory. Well, we’ll see, but it does sound interesting.
Suburban Shootout is the American version of a Brit series of the same name about two groups of women in seemingly pleasant suburbia (Wisteria Lane-like) who are warring with each other. Greer’s character is the newcomer to the development and finds herself in the middle of a gang fight. I’m thinking Desperate Housewives meets Weeds with a dash of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, what about you?
The half-hour comedy should be no-holds-barred since it’s set for HBO, and unlike Miss Guided, Greer can probably count on the show running for a while (unless the pilot goes the way of 12 Miles of Bad Road, the Lily Tomlin dramedy dumped unceremoniously in March — but that was an aberration for HBO).
One interesting note about Judy Greer’s status. According to Hollywood Reporter, the HBO project is “formally in second position” to Miss Guided. That means, she’s still under contract to 20th Century Fox TV which produced the sitcom. The company’s options on the cast doesn’t run out until June 30. If, by some chance, ABC chooses to resurrect Miss Guided before that date, then Judy would be contractually obligated to return to that show which could screw up the HBO deal, but how likely is that to happen?
Want to write a comedy for Fox?
Can you write? Do you think you know what makes people laugh? Have you ever tried banging out a sitcom script? If the answer to these questions is yes, yes, and yes, you might want to read on. Fox TV is teaming with the New York Television Festival (NYTVF) in creating a Comedy Script Contest. Wannabe writers are invited — hell, encouraged! — to enter an original comedy pilot for a potential Fox sitcom series. The winner (or winning team if you collaborate with someone) will be awarded $25,000 and a development deal with Fox to turn the pilot into real, honest-to-God TV show.
Considering the pitiful pros passing as live action comedy on Fox these days — Til Death, Back to You, Unhitched — you might think this contest was an act of desperation. It’s not.
At least that’s what Kevin Reilly, Fox prez is saying. “This contest will…give us an opportunity to discover fresh new writing talent and invigorate the network’s comedy development process by reaching out to a wider artistic community.”
The rules are pretty straight forward. Submissions have to be in by June 13, 2008, or when 1,500 submissions are received, whichever comes first. So, if you’re interested, put on a hat like Frank on 30 Rock, channel your inner Rob Petrie (and if you don’t know who that is, you haven’t been reading TV enough), and start scribbling. Remember, this is a 30-minute script. Don’t write an epic; just 25-30 pages of funny stuff.
By the way, if this seems like a familiar idea, it is. Bravo tried something similar in 2005, a reality series about trying to write and produce a sitcom, called Situation: Comedy, with Sean Hayes as the host.
Grazer’s F.B.I. up in the air
When you’re an Oscar and Emmy-winning executive producer, you sort of expect your latest TV effort to be excitedly greenlighted network that ordered it. After all, you have a track record of success. Nevertheless, Brian Grazer (Friday Night Lights, Shark, 24) has had his latest effort rejected. Grazer’s Imagine TV/20th Century Fox TV’s crime drama about and called The F.B.I., is no longer attached to the Fox network.
The exec was reportedly especially enthused about the show. Last August, Grazer said of The F.B.I., “I like making movies about heroes. Selfless people willing to protect the city, the state or the world is interesting to me. I try very hard to do those subjects in a non-corny way. It’s about people who have nobility but are emotionally flawed.”
For the first time in 35 years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation gave their cooperation to a TV show. But something clearly went off the tracks with Fox because last month, even though it cost them plenty (there was a penalty attached to the network for not going ahead with the project), they passed on the drama.
Imagine is now looking for another network to take it on. CBS and TNT are supposedly interested. The pilot for this series sounds nothing like the Quinn Martin show on the same name that starred Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and ran on ABC from 1965-1974. Grazer’s The F.B.I. was written by Chap Taylor (Changing Lanes), and tells the story of Michael Cavanaugh, an Iraq War vet who is appointed as the new head of the F.B.I.’ s Critical Incidents Response Group. The character of Michael Cavanaugh is based on a real-life former agent, John O’Neill.