Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: In what has become a network tradition, AMC held its pilot script showcase last week. The annual event, nicknamed by agents and producers “bake-off,” once again featured six scripts identified by AMC brass as the strongest pilot contenders. In a series of presentations, the writers/producers of each project laid out their vision for their show beyond the pilot with the help of visual aids, including demo reels. I hear the six scripts that made the cut this year are Chris Mundy‘s Low Winter Sun, an adaptation of the British Gothic murder mystery series; Craig Silverstein and Mitchell Akselrad‘s Turn, about George Washington’s spy ring; Richard LaGravenese‘s Philly Lawyer, about a law student; Jake Paltrow & Robbie Kinberg‘s Crystal Pines, about a journalist who signs up for a cloning experiment; Jason Cahill‘s F/V Mean Tide, about a Maine lobster fishing family; and Kerry Williamson‘s Sacred Games, an epic story of crime and punishment in modern Mumbai based on the novel by Vikram Chandra. AMC executives will spend the next few weeks evaluating the six projects. The network could order as many as two pilots out of the group. Last year, none of the six scripts that made it to the presentation stage went to pilot. In previous years, the scripts for The Killing and Hell On Wheels were among the finalists. Both were picked up to pilot and then to series, which have been renewed for a second season. Looking ahead to the next cycle, AMC recently put in development Thief Of Thieves, a new project from The Walking Dead executive producer/writer Robert Kirkman and Chic Eglee based on Kirkman’s new comic of the same name.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.