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Oscar-winning feature writer Stephen Gaghan is making a return to television with a pilot at NBC. In his latest pilot order to a big-name writer, new NBC programming chief Bob Greenblatt has given the green light to Gaghan’s drama S.I.L.A., which will be produced by 20th Century Fox TV and Chernin Entertainment. Gaghan, who won an Oscar for writing Traffic and earned another Oscar nom for writing Syriana, originally penned S.I.L.A. 18 months ago, with the script recently finding its way to Greenblatt. The project is described as a complex drama in the style of Traffic and Syriana set in the world of crime, law enforcement and politics in sprawling modern-day Los Angeles. In addition to writing, Gaghan, who has helmed two movies, including Syriana, will also direct the pilot. He is executive producing with Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope.
S.I.L.A.was laid off at Chernin Entertainment and 20th TV because of Gaghan’s existing relationships there. Through a deal at 20th TV, Gaghan has a drama and animated projects set up at Fox, also through Chernin Entertainment, which he is supervising along with his development executive Suzanne Joskow. On the feature side, Gaghan has Dead Spy Running, a feature at Warner Bros. that he is writing with an eye to direct. Kevin McCormick and McG’s Wonderland are producing.
Gaghan started off in TV, working on such series as NYPD Blue and The Practice, before segueing to movies with the 2000 Rules of Engagement.
So far, Greenblatt has done what most expected him to do – pick up more outside projects than shows developed internally at NBC under the network’s old regime. With the order to S.I.L.A., 4 of the 5 pilot pickups Greenblatt has made since last week’s departure of NBC primetime president Angela Bromstad went to specs/outside projects. The four external projects include S.I.L.A., the Steven Spielberg-produced drama Smash, which Greenblatt once developed at Showtime, David E. Kelley’s drama spec Wonder Woman and Jhoni Marchinko’s comedy spec I Hate That I Love You.
Overall, the ratio is 4:3 in favor of outside projects. The 3 projects developed at NBC include Michael Patrick King’s A Mann’s World, ordered by Greenblatt on Friday, as well as Ron Moore’s 17th Precinct and the Chad Hodge-written Playboy, which had been previously greenlighted by Bromstad but with Greenblatt’s blessing.
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Paul Lee and Bob Greenblatt are the Brandon Tartikoffs of this generation. With shows like Pan Am, Playboy, Smash, Poe, it seems like they’re being more creatively risky.
Greenblatt already proved himself with Showtime, but Paul Lee?
He worked on ABC Family, I don’t judge if he has done good job, because I don’t watch ABC Family.
Another very expensive NBC show… by another middle-aged white male writer… Where the heck are all the pilots written by diversity writers?!?!
Write something great and get it out there. You’re only holding yourself back, Elia. And if it’s going to be another white guy, it might as well be an amazing writer and Gaghan is an A+.
Way to be condescending. The trouble with “going to be another white guy” is that a majority of the slots go to another white guy. Amazing or not. Why do you think NBC made THE CAPE and HARRY’S LAW? And this isn’t racism or discriminatory. It’s laziness. NBC and the other networks are just too damn lazy to look for originality much less original voices.
Those series are on BET — head on over there.
Wow. Way to show your true color.
I loved BOOMTOWN!
How does the old BOOMTOWN from NBC stack up against TNT’s current cop show SOUTHLAND?
That was my first thought too. But maybe, 8 years later, an American audience will finally be ready for this type of series?
Sounds like a big old mess. Everyone is protected. It’s Gaghan. If you don’t take it you run the risk of being called a moron. If you do you can always blame it on someone else. after all, Gaghan.
Fools.
Good step on choosing S.I.L.A. It seems like it is quality worthy, but can also draw a mainstream audience. Greenblatt’s choices seem good.
Though I hope he takes second looks at some of the comedies that the old regime developed. I like the Russell Peters & Chelsea Handler projects.
Sounds very high concept. Let’s see how it gets executed.
This seems like another NBC adventure that will probably lead to another network flop. Let’s see what happens. Where are the new writers and the shows which showcase someone other than white males?
Isn’t this going to be Southland all over again?
Expensive. Arty fatty. Star frakking. Not commercial. Boring.
Truly love Gaghan’s work (I really hope that his script “Blink” gets produced someday) and it’s great to see him tackle the small screen.
But a series that shows the city “through multiple perspectives in law enforcement, legal communities, city hall, the land of privilege and criminal enterprise”? Sounds exactly like “THE WIRE.” I look forward to seeing where he takes the concept, but that logline feels very familiar.
What does S.I.L.A. stand for?
How is this different from Southland? I don’t get where this is going at all. Read the Playboy pilot Greenblatt picked up and it’s slick, beautifully written, doesn’t seem like a series at all. More like a film. No franchise. And it’s from the POV of the men. Not a good idea to make a playboy bunny show from the POV of the men.
Whatsup, Matt Weiner makes a sex soap opera from the male point of view and it’s one of the best dramas on tv. It’s called Mad Men. So, why can’t the new Playboy show do the same thing?
Twelve people watch Mad Men. Is NBC gonna be happy with those numbers?
The simple answer is that audiences tend to sympathize with the characters who have the problems. Mad Men works on many levels (albeit for a shockingly miniscule audience). But at it’s core it’s nostalgia for an era when men were kings, smoked and drank as much as they wished, and still ran the world. Their problems stem from the burdens this engenders. If this Playboy show is not about the Bunnies, it virtually is Mad Men. What’s the point and making another show on the same subject, at a network where you can’t do the stuff you can do on cable? And you could end up with the same ratings which for NBC would spell disaster. But more importantly, bunnies have the problem. We want to know what their lives were like, not what the lives were like of the men who held the club keys. They are the sex objects, pseudo hookers at the brink of the feminist era. If this show is about the men who visit the club, it will rapidly be seen as exploitive and sexist. The pilot is marginally so as all the women in it are either thick or unpleasant. The lead is continually described as “bright” but behaves like an idiot. The writing is very male and uninterested in the pathology of women who became Playboy bunnies.
Maybe the point of it was to show how sexist men were. Besides, the Mad Men pilot was basically the same way.
Applaud the effort, question the talent for tv. Please don’t compare anything with Mad Men. it would have failed on any of the big networks, as good as it is. Lets face nobody watches it on AMC when you consider the audience it delivers (one million homes) and compare its performance to the Waking Dead.
Gaghan is a real talent. Can’t wait to check this out. (And I love Southland. It’s is a very underrated show.)
I hope Greenblatt wiu save a slot or two for emerging talent and not just people who are super-famous. How about taking a chance on some new voices.