Nellie Andreeva

Ahead of the debut of NBC‘s midseason drama Deception tomorrow, the network has given a straight-to-series order to another hourlong project from the Deception team of creator/executive producer Liz Heldens and Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun’s production company BermanBraun. Created by Heldens and Deception co-executive producer Peter Elkoff, Camp has been picked up for 13 episodes to air in the summer. This will be Heldens and BermanBraun’s third series on NBC following medical drama Mercy, which Heldens also created, and Deception. Elkoff also worked with Heldens on Mercy.

In the tradition of Meatballs and Dazed And Confused, Little Hawk Family Camp is a wicked slice of lake-side heaven. In the one-hour dramedy, parents decompress with gin while teenagers make gleeful mischief and fall in and out of love. “In our desire to make summer an exciting place at NBC along with our signature unscripted shows like America’s Got Talent, The Voice and American Ninja Warrior, we developed a scripted dramedy we love with BermanBraun that has rich and dysfunctional characters in that great setting where millions of families and young people go each summer: camp,” said NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke. “Most of us have had great experiences at camp, and this show — created by two of our favorite producers, Liz Heldens and Peter Elkoff  — is sophisticated, funny, and emotional, and we think it will be the ideal summer series for us.” Camp will be produced by Matchbox Pictures (The Slap) and BermanBraun. Heldens and Elkoff executive produce with Berman, Braun and Gene Stein. Production is scheduled to begin in Australia in March.

Next summer is shaping up to be one of the strongest in terms of original scripted series offerings on the broadcast networks. ABC has Mistresses and the fourth season of Rookie Blue. (The network also greenlighted sci-fi drama series Weird Desk for summer but subsequently scrapped the project.) CBS has the high-profile Stephen King-Steven Spielberg drama Under The Dome as well as Season 2 of Unforgettable. In addition to Camp, NBC has three new scripted series that are yet to be slotted — dramas Hannibal, Crossbones and and comedy Save Me — so it is conceivable that more original scripted content will make it to the summer. (A fourth new scripted series, Dracula, is eying a fall 2013 launch). Heldens and BermanBraun are with WME.

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