Nellie Andreeva

Lifetime today picked up the first scripted pilot pickups since the regime change at the female-centered cable network. lifetime2History’s Nancy Dubuc took the reins of Lifetime as president and has been reading piles of pilot scripts with an eye at jump starting Lifetime’s scripted development by ordering at least 5 and as many as 8 pilots, mostly in the closed-ended procedural genre.

The network today greenlighted 3:

– AGAINST THE WALL: written by Annie Brunner, it is a family drama set in Chicago following policewoman Abby Kowalski, who causes a rift with her three cop brothers when she decides to join the department’s Internal Affairs division.

– EXIT 19, from Jeff Bell, follows single mother Gloria Shepherd as she juggles her demanding personal and professional lives raising two children while working as a New York Police Department homicide detective. The pilot is from ABC Studios and CBS TV Studios, executive producer/writer Bell and executive producers Nina Wass and Gene Stein. The project was originally developed at CBS during the 2007-2008 season when it was ordered as a pilot presentation starring Geena Davis.

– UNTITLED JOSH BERMAN PROJECT is a closed-ended drama set in San Diego, where police detective Molly Collins, married mother of two on the verge of divorce, and her partner Brooke Kross, recently engaged, investigate the city’s most high-profile crimes while navigating their divergent personal lives. Berman and Sony are already in business with Lifetime through sophomore hit Drop Dead Diva, which was created by Berman and is produced by Sony.

“With a strong foundation in scripted programming firmly established by Army Wives and Drop Dead Diva, Lifetime is aggressively expanding its drama series development plate with powerful programs from creative auspices who have strong pedigrees in producing stand-out programming,” said Dubuc. Lifetime’s development slate is being overseen by EVP entertainment JoAnn Alfano.

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