Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi are teaming for a comedy project. After a heated bidding war, a multi-camera comedy executive produced by DeGeneres and starring Arrested Development alumna de Rossi, has landed at NBC with a put pilot commitment. I hear the project, to be written by Samantha Who? co-creator/executive producer Don Todd, is about dueling sisters, one of them played by de Rossi. The project hails from Warner Bros TV and DeGeneres’ studio-based production company A Very Good Production. It marks the first sale for A Very Good Production, which entered the series development arena in October when it inked a multi-year, multifaceted  deal with WBTV and tapped former Comedy Central president of original programming Lauren Corrao to run it. The untitled comedy, which had all four major broadcast networks interested, will be executive produced by DeGeneres, Corrao and Todd. WME-repped de Rossi, best known for her roles on Fox’s Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, most recently starred on ABC’s well-received but short-lived comedy Better Off Ted. ICM-repped DeGeneres is coming off another best talk show Daytime Emmy win for her daily talker, which kicked off its ninth season this week. Todd is with the Rothman Brecher Agency. This is the latest comedy project to spark a bidding war and land a commitment as half-hour shows have been hotter than ever this pitch season.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.