Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Comedy continues to be hot this selling season with another single-camera pitch sparking a bidding war. Gates, from writers Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith, Kapital Entertainment and 20th Century Fox TV, was pursued by all four major networks, landing at NBC with a pilot production commitment.

Based on the British comedy of the same name, which premiered on Sky Living two weeks ago, Gates is an adult ensemble comedy set at the front gates of an elementary school drop-off. It revolves around the parents, the school staff and the 15-minute social minefield they have to navigate at the beginning and end of each school day. Yuspa and Goldsmith will write the script and executive produce with Kapital Entertainment’s Aaron Kaplan (MTV’s The Inbetweeners, ABC’s The Neighbors) as well as Laurence Bowen and Philip Clarke of Feelgood Fiction, the UK production company behind the original series. Gates, the first UK comedy commissioned by Sky Living, stars Sue Johnston, Tom Ellis and Joanna Page. (trailer below)

Gates is the first project to come out of the two-year overall deal Yuspa and Goldsmith inked with 20th TV in May after 15 years at Sony Pictures TV. It is Kaplan’s second consecutive single-camera comedy at NBC based on a foreign format. Last year, he executive produced family comedy pilot Isabel, an adaptation of a Canadian series. It was one of two NBC comedy pilots for Kaplan last season, along with the multi-camera Daddy’s Girls, which also was produced by 20th TV. The producer recently landed a series order at Nick at Nite for comedy Wendell and Vinnie and pilot orders at Nick at Nite for Instant Mom starring Tia Mowry and at Lifetime for HR. While at Sony, Yuspa and Goldsmith spent six years on The King of Queens, rising to executive producers/showrunners, and created and executive produced series ‘Til Death and Big Day. They are repped by ICM Partners, which also reps Feelgood Fiction.

Gates is the latest single-camera comedy pitch to spark heated bidding this season. Sony TV’s family comedy starring Michael J. Fox and co-created/produced by Will Gluck landed at NBC with a whopping 22-episode on-air commitment, Universal TV’s Michael Schur/Dan Goor detective comedy got a pilot production commitment at Fox, while Sony TV’s Tad Quill firefighter project starring David Walton went to CBS with a put pilot commitment.

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