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Mark Gordon, Ann Biderman Introduce Showtime’s Fixer ‘Ray Donovan’: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday January 12, 2013 @ 6:42pm PSTTags: Liev Schreiber, Mark Gordon, Ray Donovan, Showtime

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

Ray DonovanRay DonovanProducer Mark Gordon had a little surprise for his audience at today’s TCA panel on his new Showtime drama series Ray Donovan. Gordon is executive producer of the series with Ann Biderman and Bryan Zuriff. It stars Liev Schreiber as Ray Donovan, a professional fixer. In response to a question directed at the entire panel, Gordon offered that he has had a personal experience with a “fixer” himself.

Related: Showtime’s 2013 Schedule: ‘Dexter’ Moves To Summer, Will Launch ‘Ray Donovan’; ‘Homeland’ Paired With ‘Masters Of Sex’

Ray Donovan“I have. I had some information that I needed to discover, all legal I believe, no baseball bats involved,” said Gordon, who appeared on the panel with Biderman, Zuriff and actors Schreiber, Jon Voight, Elliott Gould, Paula Malcomson, Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok and Pooch Hall. “These are very interesting people.” He said that the typical private detective spends most of his time doing computer research but the fixer is a different kind of animal.

Ray DonovanAfter the session, Gordon declined to give more details but laughingly said his experience “wasn’t like this,” meaning the circumstances of the show. “There is a kind of information that you need sometimes, I was trying to get information about a situation,” he said.

Related: Showtime’s Sunday Theme: ‘Shameless’, ‘House Of Lies’ And ‘Californication’

Gordon’s “fixer” experience was not the inspiration for the show. Speaking about the genesis of the series, which has as 12-episode order, Gordon said Biderman brought the idea to Gordon and Zuriff. Biderman said she had always conceived the idea as a TV series, not a feature film.

Ray Donovan“When I brought it to Mark and Bryan, and we brought it to Showtime, we came in with 8 or 9 huge boards, [Showtime entertainment chief David Nevins] said he’d never seen anybody pitch a show like this,” Biderman said. She added she finds TV more exciting than feature films because “The kinds of movies I’m interested in aren’t being made easily. I don’t want to write movies about animals and superheroes. I found myself going up for jobs I didn’t really want.”

Biderman is the creator of the series Southland but said she is no longer involved with the show. “Happily I created a template that is strong enough to keep it going,” she said. “I am fully engaged in this.” Biderman said the show would be serialized. “I never saw this being a procedural. One of the great things about telling a story in this form is you can serialize it, like writing a novel.” She said that she hopes individual episodes will be satisfying “even with dangling threads.”

Related: Showtime’s David Nevins On End Game For ‘Dexter’, ‘Californication’ & ‘Homeland’

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Salma Hayek, Silvio Horta & Mark Gordon Team For Latino Family Dramedy At ABC

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday December 6, 2012 @ 6:23pm PSTTags: Bastards, Mark Gordon, Salma Hayek, Silvio Horta
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Six years after the debut of Ugly Betty, two of the key auspices behind the successful dramedy are reuniting for another light drama at ABC and ABC Studios about a Latino family. In a last-minute buy, the network has put in development Bastards, from Ugly Betty executive producer Salma Hayek and the show’s creator/executive producer Silvio Horta. Completing the A-list team behind the show is producer Mark Gordon, who will also executive produce. Written by Horta, Bastards centers on a colorful Cuban-American family who have their lives turned upside down when it’s revealed that the family patriarch had a child with the family maid over 25 years ago. Now his wife will do anything to protect her children’s inheritance and prevent her family’s deep dark secrets from ever seeing the light of day.

Bastards originated with an idea by Hayek. She and Jose Tamez, her producing partner at their ABC-Studios based Ventanarosa, had been trying to tackle the premise for awhile and had teamed with Gordon’s Mark Gordon Prods., which also is under a deal at ABC Studios. Horta, who is of Cuban- American descent, recently received a call from Tamez and Mark Gordon Prods.’ drama executive Nicholas Pepper who was once Horta’s ABC executive on Ugly Betty. “I immediately sparked to the concept — it was fun and juicy and had the opportunity for both a lot of salacious situations and humor as well as a lot of heart and emotions, hitting that sweet spot I like to write,” Horta said. After some very fast deal-making, the team sold the project at ABC. Back in 2005, others had taken a stab at adapting the popular telenovela Ugly Betty for American audiences before Horta, but his version stuck. “I hope history will repeat itself,” he quipped. Horta, Hayek, Tamez, Gordon and Pepper are executive producing. Read More »

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Mark Gordon & Jason Blum To Produce ABC Comedy Based On ‘My Korean Deli’ Book

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday October 26, 2012 @ 5:06pm PDTTags: ABC, Jason Blum, Mark Gordon
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Producers Mark Gordon, who is behind ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and CBS’ Criminal Minds, and Jason Blum, who is fresh off two hot movie openers with Sinister and Paranormal Activity 4, have teamed to executive produce half-hour comedy My Korean Deli for ABC. The project, produced by ABC Studios, studio-based Mark Gordon Co. and Blum’s Blumhouse, is based on the Ben Ryder Howe’s book. Geoff Moore and David Posamentier will write the adaptation, which tells the story of an American man who buys a deli for his wife’s Korean parents and now has to try to find the balance between his new job, his wife, and his overbearing in-laws. Mark Gordon Co.’s Gordon and Andrea Shay executive produce with Blum. Gerard Bacaccio oversees Blumhouse’s TV division. Read More »

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‘Desperate Housewives’ Showrunner Bob Daily And Mark Gordon Sell Drama To ABC

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday October 5, 2012 @ 2:13pm PDTTags: Bob Daily, Desperate Housewives, Mark Gordon
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Former Desperate Housewives executive producer/ showrunner Bob Daily is staying in the ABC/ABC Studios fold, teaming with the executive producer of another hit ABC drama that started as a Desperate Housewives companion, Grey’s Anatomy‘s Mark Gordon.

The untitled hourlong drama, from ABC Studios and studio-based Mark Gordon Co., revolves around three diverse families whose lives get gloriously messy when they discover that they share a biological father, a successful bachelor in his 40s who’s completely unprepared to embrace the family he never knew he wanted. Daily will co-write the script with feature writer Pierce Gardner (Dan In Real Life). Daily, Gordon and Nicholas Pepper are the executive producers. Read More »

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ABC Buys Soap From Producer Mark Gordon And ‘Make It Or Break It’ Creator

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday September 25, 2012 @ 7:13pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Mark Gordon
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: ABC has put in development a female soap from Make It Or Break It creator Holly Sorensen and producer Mark Gordon. Based on an idea by Sorensen and Irish actress Victoria Smurfit, who are old friends, the … Read More »

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Koch, Gordon Re-Elected Presidents of PGA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday June 8, 2012 @ 8:18pm PDTTags: Hawk Koch, Mark Gordon, PGA, Producers Guild of America

Hawk Koch and Mark Gordon have been re-elected presidents of the Producers Guild of America. Also re-elected to the national board were Gary Lucchesi, VP Motion Pictures and Hayma ‘Screech’ … Read More »

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ABC Gives Drama Pilot Orders To Soaps From Mark Gordon And Callie Khouri

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday January 27, 2012 @ 8:04pm PSTTags: ABC, Mark Gordon
Nellie Andreeva

After picking up 3 comedy pilots this afternoon, ABC just gave the green light to 2 drama pilots, Americana and Nashville, both primetime soaps. The latter pickup is contingent on the project becoming a co-production between Lionsgate TV, which developed it, and ABC Studios.

… Read More »

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ABC Picks Up ‘White Van Man’ Comedy Pilot From Bobby Bowman And Mark Gordon

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday January 25, 2012 @ 5:35pm PSTTags: ABC, Mark Gordon, White Van Man
Nellie Andreeva

ABC has given a cast-contingent pilot order to White Van Man,  a blue collar ensemble comedy based on the British series of the same name. Former My Name Is Earl executive producer Bobby Bowman wrote the adaptation for ABC Studios … Read More »

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Sony Pictures Acquiring New Steve Jobs Biography For Major Feature Film

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 7, 2011 @ 2:48pm PDTTags: Apple, Mark Gordon, Sony Pictures, Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson
Mike Fleming

Steve Jobs Biography MovieEXCLUSIVE: I’ve just learned that Sony Pictures is making a hefty deal to acquire feature rights to Steve Jobs, the upcoming authorized biography by former CNN chairman and Time Magazine managing editor Walter Isaacson. I’m hearing the deal is $1 million against $3 million and that Mark Gordon will be the biopic’s producer. But this will be an MG360 project, which is the movie production partnership between Gordon and Management 360. ICM reps both Isaacson and Gordon. Sony Pictures would not comment. The studio seems a good fit for the book, having boiled business books into compelling dramas with both the Oscar-nominated The Social Network and Moneyball. The Isaacson book was supposed to be published on November 21st by Simon & Schuster, but now the release date has moved up to October 24th, according to a spokeswoman for the publisher. This was the hottest about-to-be biopic in Hollywood. [Will Hollywood Book Biopic Of Steve Jobs?] The 448-page profile is based on over 40 interviews with the Apple co-founder and over 100 conversations with friends, family members, colleagues and competitors. And it’s a compelling story: the building of the world’s most valuable technology company by creating the devices that changed how people use electronics and revolutionized the computer, music, and mobile phone industries. Jobs gave his full cooperation but had not read it as of mid-August. At first titled iSteve: the Book Of Jobs, Isaacson had second thoughts about what was appropriate for the first biography to get Jobs’ blessing and cooperation. Even when it wasn’t even finished, it made it (briefly) into the top 50 on Amazon’s bestseller list. Isaacson eventually persuaded his publisher Simon & Schuster to go with the simple title of Steve Jobs. First planned for 2012, the book’s release date was moved up. Read More »

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ABC Developing Sitcom Based On British Format With Former ‘Earl’ EP & Mark Gordon

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday September 27, 2011 @ 3:41pm PDTTags: ABC, Mark Gordon
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: ABC has put in development a blue collar ensemble comedy based on the British format White Van Man. Former My Name Is Earl executive producer Bobby Bowman will write the adaptation for ABC Studios and studio-based Mark Gordon Co. … Read More »

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ABC Developing ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ Drama From Producer Mark Gordon

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday September 16, 2011 @ 10:07am PDTTags: ABC, ABC Studios, Mark Gordon
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: ABC has bought a second high-profile drama project that takes on Robert Louis Stevenson’s split-personality tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jekyll & Hyde, from ABC Studios, studio-based Mark Gordon Co and feature writer Matt Lopez (The … Read More »

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Producer Mark Gordon Sells 2 More Projects To ABC: Crime Drama From Writer Chap Taylor & Candace Bushnell Book Adaptation

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday September 8, 2011 @ 3:00am PDTTags: ABC, ABC Studios, Candace Bushnell, Chap Taylor, Mark Gordon, Untouchable
Nellie Andreeva

The Mark Gordon Co. has set up two more projects at ABC: Chap Taylor’s drama Untouchable and an hourlong project based on Candace Bushnell’s book One Fifth Avenue. Both hail from ABC Studios.

Described as a stylish, sexy modernization of Miami Vice for the 21st century, Untouchable centers on a hard-charging female FBI agent with a blue-collar background who is teamed with a reckless, independently wealthy LAPD detective to take on organized crime. Changing Lanes writer Taylor is set to pen the script and executive produce with Gordon and The X Files and Castle helmer Rob Bowman, who is attached to direct. Taylor, repped by WME and Management 360, just delivered the pilot script for his FX drama project about an illegal immigrant-turned-private eye, which drew a lot of attention when first unveiled by Deadline last year; Rodrigo Garcia is attached to direct the potential pilot. Taylor also is in active development on the bestseller Gideon’s Sword for Michael Bay at Paramount. And he is developing a feature adaptation of his comic book series Haunted City with McG and his producing partner Peter Johnson. McG is attached to direct the project, which is expected to be taken out at the beginning of next year.

Bushnell’s One Fifth Avenue chronicles the clashes among the inhabitants of One Fifth Avenue, a Greenwich Village art deco jewel crammed with regal rich, tarty upstarts and misguided lovers. Josh Safran (Gossip Girl) is writing the adaptation and will exec produce with Bushnell and Gordon. Read More »

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ABC Buys Action Adventure Drama From Michael Seitzman and Mark Gordon

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday September 6, 2011 @ 7:48pm PDTTags: Mark Gordon, Michael Seitzman
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: ABC has bought one of its most ambitious projects so far this development season — a globetrotting adventure from North Country writer Michael Seitzman and producer Mark Gordon. Based … Read More »

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ABC Buys 2 Projects From Feature Writers

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday August 24, 2011 @ 4:05pm PDTTags: ABC, ABC TV Studios, David Newman, Mark Gordon, Michael Tolkin
Nellie Andreeva

In the latest round of script buying, ABC has picked up two projects from feature auspices — a comedy from Friends With Benefits writers Keith Merryman and David Newman, which is executive produced by Mark Gordon, and … Read More »

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Showtime Picks Up Pilots From Andrew Gurland, Michelle Ashford & Ann Biderman

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday August 21, 2011 @ 6:00pm PDTTags: Andrew Gurland, Carl Beverly, CBS TV Studios, Glenn Gordon Caron, Mark Gordon, Masters of Sex, Michelle Ashford, pilots, Sarah Timberman, Showtime, Sony Pictures TV
Nellie Andreeva

Showtime has greenlighted three pilots: Andrew Gurland’s docu-comedy Gurland on Gurland, Michelle Ashford’s drama Masters Of Sex and Ann Biderman’s dramedy Ray Donovan. This marks the second round of pilot orders for Showtime’s new entertainment president David Nevins. The first one included drama Homeland and comedy House of Lies, both of which went to series.

Gurland on Gurland is a first-person documentary comedy written, directed and starring filmmaker Andrew Gurland (The Last Exorcism, The Virginity Hit), which reflects his real family life and the challenges he faces pursuing the next phase of his career. The pilot hails from CBS TV Studios, with Gurland, managed by Principato-Young, and studio-based Glenn Gordon Caron executive producing. This marks the first Showtime pilot from the cable division of sibling studio CBS TV Studios. It was developed by the division’s former head Bela Bajaria, who recently departed to run Universal Media Studios. On the broadcast side, Medium creator Caron just sold a drama project to CBS executive produced by James Mangold and Cathy Konrad.

Masters of Sex, from Sony Pictures TV, is an adaptation of Thomas Maier’s book Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love and chronicles the lives and the intriguing, unusual relationship between Masters and Johnson, the pioneers into the science of human sexuality whose research touched off the sexual revolution. Ashford wrote the script and is executive producing with Timberman/Beverly Prods’ Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly, who set up the project while at Sony TV. (The company, which has three series on the air — FX’s Justified and CBS’ upcoming Unforgettable and A Gifted Man — moved to CBS Studios last summer.) Read More »

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Mandate Hires Phil Claydon To Direct ‘Miserable Excuse For A Hero’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday June 29, 2011 @ 11:07am PDTTags: D.V. De Vincentis, Jennifer Todd, Mandate Pictures, Mark Gordon
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Phil Claydon has been hired by Mandate Pictures to direct Miserable Excuse For A Hero, the D.V. De Vincentis-scripted adaptation of Bob Powers’ comic novel You Are A Miserable Excuse For A Hero. In the book, a 30-year-old part-time … Read More »

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Zac Efron’s ‘Die In A Gunfight’ Gets Helmer

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday April 26, 2011 @ 12:54pm PDTTags: Andrew Barrer, Die in a Gunfight, Gabriel Ferrari, Jennifer Todd, Mark Gordon, Zac Efron
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Anthony Mandler has been set to direct Die In A Gunfight for Media Rights Capital, the Gabriel Ferrari/Andrew Barrer-scripted film that has Zac Efron attached to star. Mark Gordon is producing with Jennifer Todd. Mandler, a photographer, music video … Read More »

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Mark Gordon Signs New Deal With ABC Studios, Inks First-Look Pact With Disney

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday April 7, 2011 @ 7:45am PDTTags: ABC Studios, Mark Gordon, Mark Gordon ABC Studios, Movie Deals, Movies, TV, TV Deals, Walt Disney Studios
Nellie Andreeva

Mark Gordon has renewed his deal with ABC Studios, where he has been for 10 years. Additionally, he has inked a first-look pact  with Walt Disney Studios. The four-year Disney deal covers overhead for Gordon’s banner, Mark Gordon Company, on … Read More »

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Angela Bassett To Star In ABC Pilot ‘Identity’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday March 2, 2011 @ 6:20pm PSTTags: Angela Bassett, Identity Pilot, Mark Gordon, TV, TV Casting, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Angela Bassett is set as a lead in ABC’s drama pilot Identity. The project, from ABC Studios, Mark Gordon Co. and writer John Glenn, is an action procedural based on a British  format, which centers on an elite police unit … Read More »

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