Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, who wrote the upcoming Justin Timberlake-Cameron Diaz feature comedy Bad Teacher, are returning to television with a rich two-year overall deal at ABC Studios. Additionally, the duo is reuniting with Bad Teacher director Jake Kasdan and studio Sony for a new feature comedy they will be writing and Kasdan directing. Details on the plot are being kept under wraps, but it is a romantic comedy.

In a new business reality dominated by “showveralls,” overall deals tied to services on a show, Stupnitsky and Eisenberg’s pact with ABC Studios is a rare pure development deal, paying the duo seven figures a year to exclusively generate new projects through their company Quantity Entertainment. I hear there was interest in them from several studios, with Stupnitsky and Eisenberg opting to go to ABC Studios because of a series idea they have that they feel would fit ABC. Before segueing to features full-time last year, Stupnitsky and Eisenberg spent five seasons on NBC’s The Office, rising to co-executive producers, writing 18 episodes and directing two. (One of their episodes earned the duo a writing Emmy nom in 2008.) While on the show, Stupnitsky and Eisenberg wrote three features: the Jack Black-Michael Cera comedy Year One, Bad Teacher and the long-gestating Ivan Reitman-directed Ghostbusters 3, which hinges on Bill Murray committing to return. Additionally, in the last three months the two have done rewrites on movies for Warner Bros, Lionsgate and Fox 2000. On the TV side, Stupnitsky and Eisenberg, repped by WME and Mosaic, executive produce the Travel Channel series Deathwish Movers and have projects in development at Comedy Central and ABC Family.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.