Nellie Andreeva

Two of 20th Century Fox TV’s top showrunners, Ryan Murphy and Howard Gordon, have come together to create a new drama project which is in negotiations to land at Fox. The size of the penalty is still being worked out but, given the caliber of the auspices, it is expected to be a put pilot. Murphy and Gordon will co-write and executive produce the untitled project, described as a high-concept character-driven procedural that deals with making people face their worst fears and phobias. It centers on a psychiatrist, “the person people go to when everything else has failed,” Gordon said at the Humanitas Prize luncheon today. The drama will have supernatural elements but will revolve around broader mysteries in the vein of The X-Files, a series on which Gordon served as a writer-producer. “We all are afraid of something, and fears keep us from living our lives,” he said. As for joining forces with Murphy, Gordon said 20th TV brass jokingly refers to the combo as “leather and lace.”

Murphy and Gordon are familiar faces at Fox. Murphy is the co-creator/executive producer/showrunner  of the network’s breakout hit Glee, while Gordon was the long-time executive producer/showrunner of 24. Both have won an Emmy and a Goden Globe for their work on the series. Murphy is with CAA, Gordon is with WME.

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