Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Episodes co-star Kathleen Rose Perkins is set as the lead in the NBC comedy pilot The Gates. Also cast in the project, from 20th Century Fox TV and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment, are Diana Maria Riva, Josh Grisetti (Knights Of Prosperity) and Justin Chon. The Gates, written by Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith and to be directed by Marc Buckland, received an early pilot green light earlier this month. In addition to her starring role in The Gates, Perkins will also continue her regular gig on Episodes, filming the show’s upcoming third season after production on The Gates pilot wraps. If The Gates goes to series and Episodes goes to Season 4, Perkins would star on the NBC comedy and recur on the Showtime one.

Based on the British series, The Gates is an adult ensemble comedy set at the front gates of an elementary school drop-off and revolves around the parents, school staff and 15-minute social minefield they have to navigate at the beginning and end of each school day. The show centers on the type-A Helen (Perkins), who just moved to town with her husband Mark and their eight year-old daughter for Helen’s big new job – the VP of Product Development at Williams-Sonoma. Riva will play Lindsay, the head of the PTA who is very easily pissed off. Grisetti will play Nat, the young-ish school principal, who thinks he’s beloved, but just kinda isn’t. Chon will play a funny “manny”, who, even though he’s young, has seen it all at the school, and he serves as a buddy/confidant to Mark.

On the feature side Perkins, repped by Devon Jackson, was recently cast in the Duplass Brothers’ The Skeleton Twins and also co-stars in Diablo Cody’s Lamb Of God and the untitled Nicole Holofcenter project. Theater actor Grisetti is with Gersh.

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