Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: A character-driven action dramedy from Friday Night Lights and Parenthood developer/executive producer Jason Katims and feature writer Simon Kinberg has landed at Fox with a rich put pilot commitment. Titled Anonymous, the project follows a rebellious, hot-shot wunderkind who is plucked as the CIA’s latest recruit and teamed with a seasoned handler with whom he forms an unlikely father-son relationship. Katims will write and executive produce. Kinberg will executive produce, while Katims’ head of development, Michelle Lee, will serve as producer.

Heading into this season, Katims, an Emmy winner for writing the finale of Friday Night Lights, expressed interest in the CIA arena, which he had never tackled before. He was introduced to Kinberg, who has expertise in the action genre with credits including Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: The Last Stand and the upcoming X-Men: Days Of Future Past as well as two movies about spies: Mr. And Mrs. Smith and This Means War.

This is the second project taken out by Katims this season on the heels of him signing a new overall deal with Universal TV and beefing up his production banner with the hire of Lee. The first, an edgy, legal romantic comedy penned by Sarah Watson, also went to Fox in a competitive situation as Uni TV is stepping up efforts to be a supplier to all networks. The two projects reunite Katims with Fox chairman Kevin Reilly — who, while at NBC, put Friday Night Lights on the air — and with Fox’s head of drama Terence Carter, who as NBC drama executive developed Parenthood. Katims and Kinberg are repped by CAA.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.