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A&E Passes On ‘Big Mike’, Leans Toward Picking Up ‘Longmire’ To Series

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday July 27, 2011 @ 7:09pm PDTTags: A&E, Big Mike, Longmire, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

After a lengthy screening and decision-making process for their two pilots Longmire and Big Mike, A&E brass just passed on one of them, Big Mike. No official decision has been made on Longmire yet, but buzz on the project starring Matrix standout Robert Taylor has been strong, and I hear that A&E is leaning heavily toward picking it up to series. Based on the Walt Longmire Mystery series of novels by Craig Johnson, Longmire is named after its central character, Walt Longmire (Taylor), the charismatic, dedicated and unflappable sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyo. Widowed only a year, he is a man in psychic repair but buries his pain behind his brave face, unassuming grin and dry wit. Co-starring in the Warner Horizon-produced pilot, which was directed by Chris Chulack, are Katee Sackhoff, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bailey Chase and Cassidy Freeman. Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny wrote the project and are executive producing with Greer Shephard and Mike Robin. The Sony TV/Happy Madison-produced Big Mike, written by Ed Decter and John Strauss and directed by Paris Barclay, starred Greg Grunberg as a plus-size detective with the San Diego Police Department. A&E recently renewed Breakout Kings for a second season, with its other scripted series, The Glades, also appearing on track for a third-season renewal.

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Lifetime’s Pilots ‘Meet Jane’ & Untitled Michael Sardo Not Going Forward

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday July 27, 2011 @ 12:55am PDTTags: Lifetime, Meet Jane, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Lifetime has quietly passed on its remaining two pilots, Meet Jane and the untitled Michael Sardo project. Of the five pilots ordered under new Lifetime president and general manager Nancy Dubuc, two, Against the Wall and Exit 19, were … Read More »

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Primetime Pilot Panic: ABC & CBS Updates

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 13, 2011 @ 12:15am PDTTags: ABC, Apt. 23, Bad Mom, Charlie's Angels, Good Christian Bitches, Hail Mary, Hart of Dixie, Identity, Once Upon a Time, Pan Am, Person of Interest, Poe, Primetime Pilot Panic, Ringer, Rookies, Scandal, Smothered, Suburgatory, The Rememberer, The Secret Circle, Tim Allen Pilot, TV Pilots, Work It
Nellie Andreeva

With Fox done with its series orders and NBC pretty much done too, attention is focusing on ABC and CBS. ABC is expected to make its series pickups tomorrow. Here is the latest buzz on the two networks:

ABC

Assured … Read More »

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Primetime Pilot Panic: Screenings Updates

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 5, 2011 @ 11:30pm PDTTags: Awakening, Bad Mom, Cooper & Stone, Council of Dads, Danni Lowinski, Exit Strategy, Family Album, Good Christian Bitches, Grace, Grimm, Hail Mary, Hart of Dixie, Heavenly, How To Be a Gentleman, Metro, My Freakin' Family, Other People's Kids, Person of Interest, playboy, Prime Suspect, Primetime Pilot Panic, REM, Rookies, Scandal, Smash, Smothered, Suburgatory, The Rememberer, The Secret Circle, Touch, TV Pilots, Two Broke Girls, Untitled Peter Knight, Untitled Susannah Grant, Weekends at Bellevue, Wonder Woman
Nellie Andreeva

The marathon pilot screenings at the broadcast networks are in full force. While they are rarely the deciding factor in the networks’ final series pickup decisions, they help solidify early standouts’ frontrunner positions and sometimes breathe life into pilots that might have been written off too soon. Here are some … Read More »

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Hope Davis To Star In HBO’s Comedy Pilot ‘Spring/Fall’, Jake Kasdan To Direct

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday April 6, 2011 @ 4:13pm PDTTags: HBO, HBO Pilots, Hope Davis, Jake Kasdan, Spring/Fall, Tea Leoni, TV, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Hope Davis is set to star opposite Tea Leoni in HBO’s half-hour comedy pilot Spring/Fall. Jake Kasdan has come on board to direct the project, which is set in New York City against the backdrop of the fashion world and centers on the dysfunctional partnership between Margo (Leoni) and Eden (Davis), two women with different approaches to career, family and friendship. Margo is a successful designer and a happily married mother of 5-year-old twins working for famous fashion designer Victor Cross. When he commits suicide, Margo takes over his line and quickly realizes she’s in over her head, so she reaches out to her estranged former best friend and collaborator Eden, a onetime famous fashion designer herself, and convinces her to come work for her. Read More »

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Several More Actors Join Broadcast Pilots

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday March 25, 2011 @ 8:44pm PDTTags: Casting, I Hate That I Love You, My Life as an Experiment, Reconstruction, The Assistants, The Secret Circle, TV Pilots, Weekends at Bellvue
Nellie Andreeva

Danneel Ackles (formerly Harris) and Jamie Lee Kirchner have landed the last 2 leads in NBC’s comedy pilot I Hate That I Love You. The single-camera project, from writer/exec … Read More »

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Katee Sackhoff, 3 More Cast In A&E Pilot ‘Longmire’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday March 25, 2011 @ 4:45pm PDTTags: A&E, Bailey Chase, Longmire, Lou Diamond Phillips, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Battlestar Galactica alumna Katee Sackhoff has been cast as the female lead opposite Robert Taylor in A&E’s hourlong pilot Longmire. Also cast in the project, based on the Walt Longmire Mystery series of novels by Craig Johnson, are Lou Diamond … Read More »

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PILOT SEASON LOCATIONS: New York Production Booming, Canada Loses Ground

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday March 11, 2011 @ 12:19pm PSTTags: Canada, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Part of a series that takes an analytical look at the current broadcast pilot season and some of its trends and heroes.

In August, New York State’s Film Production Tax Credit Program was extended and expanded to $420 million per year. Several months later, pilot production in the Big Apple is back in a big way. Nine broadcast drama pilots are filming there now, including such high-profile entries as NBC’s Prime Suspect and Smash, ABC’s Pan Am and CBS’ Susannah Grant. That is up from zero last year. (The pilot for CBS’ New York-set Blue Bloods only shot some footage there.) The giant leap puts New York almost on par with the traditional location leader, Los Angeles, which houses 11 of the 42 drama pilots ordered by the broadcast networks  this season. That extends the continuous decline of the number of drama pilots shot in L.A. over the past decade. (Last year, 14 of the 43 broadcast drama pilots were filmed in there.) But with virtually all comedy pilots shooting in Los Angeles this season (ABC’s Bad Mom is the only one filming elsewhere, in Orlando), and the overall number of broadcast pilots creeping down every year, the percentage of all broadcast pilots (drama and comedy) produced in L.A. this year, 60%, was up a tick for a second straight year (59% in 2010, 57% in 2009).

Meanwhile, fewer pilots, six, are being filmed north of the border this year (a seventh, Fox’s Alcatraz, shot in San Francisco and Vancouver). Last year, that number was nine. The most dramatic reverse of the runaway production trend is at the CW, which traditionally films pilots and series in Canada. Last season, the network shot five of its six pilots in Canada and one in Thailand. This year, half of its six pilots are being produced in the U.S., with the others in Canada. For the bigger-budget drama pilots at the Big Four networks, shooting in Canada this year is tied mostly to creating elaborate settings, like the magical worlds in ABC’s Once Upon a Time and NBC’s 17th Precinct and 1840s Boston in ABC’s Poe.

Part of the reason for more TV studio executives to consider keeping drama pilot production in the U.S. is that the current currency exchange rate makes production in Canada less appealing than in years past. But also key are tax incentives offered in the states. On a standard hourlong pilot budget of $3 million, 10%-25% in tax rebates represents a nice saving. For instance, two of the three CW pilots shooting in the U.S., Hart of Dixie and Cooper & Stone, are being produced in states with tax incentives, North Carolina and Illinois. The locations also happen to fit the settings of the shows, which producers always wish for but only get when economics allow.

The Illinois incentives put in place by ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich made Chicago the hottest pilot location last year with five projects filmed there: dramas Ride-along (now The Chicago Code), A.T.F., Pleading Guilty and Matadors and comedy Friends with Benefits. This year, that number is two, both shows set in the Windy City: NBC drama pilot Playboy and CW’s Cooper & Stone. Other pilots whose setting and filming location match this season include Fox’s Bones spinoff The Finder (Miami), NBC’s Prime Suspect and Smash (New York) and ABC’s Good Christian Bitches (Dallas). Read More »

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Kris Polaha Among Latest Pilot Additions

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday March 10, 2011 @ 11:41am PSTTags: CBS, Hart of Dixie, Hart of Dixie Casting, James Adomian, Kristoffer Polaha, NBC, Rachel Bilson, Ringer, Ringer Casting, The River, TV, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Life Unexpected star Kristoffer Polaha has been tapped for a co-starring role on the CBS/CBS Studios drama pilot Ringer. The project centers on troubled young woman Bridget (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who, while on the run from the mob, hides out … Read More »

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Independently Produced Comedy Pilot Gears For Production

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday March 9, 2011 @ 3:39am PSTTags: TV, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

It’s pilot season, and a slew of comedy pilots are getting ready for production. But a  half-hour project called Workers Comp is taking a different route to the small screen. First, it was written by two 19 year olds: Castille … Read More »

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‘Pan Am’ Hires Male Lead, ‘Smothered’ Gets Female Lead And More Pilot Castings

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday March 8, 2011 @ 9:25pm PSTTags: Brian D'Arcy James, Pan Am TV Pilot, Prime Suspect Pilot, Revenge Casting, Revenge Pilot, Smothered Casting, Smothered Pilot, TV, TV Casting, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Jonah Lotan (Generation Kill) has landed the male lead in ABC’s drama pilot Pan Am. The project, from Sony Pictures TV, writer Jack Orman and director Thomas Schlamme, is a sexy soap set against the Jet Age that … Read More »

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ABC Pilot Castings: Natalie Dormer To Star In ‘Poe’, Judith Light Joins ‘Kids’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday March 8, 2011 @ 4:30pm PSTTags: ABC Pilots, ABC Poe, Judith Light, Other People's Kids, Other People's Kids Pilot, TV, TV Casting, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

The Tudors alumna Natalie Dormer is set as the female lead opposite Chris Egan in ABC’s drama pilot Poe. The project, from Warner Bros. TV and Lin Pictures, is a crime procedural following Edgar Allan Poe (Egan), the … Read More »

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Jeffrey Tambor Joins NBC’s ‘Bent’, ‘Work It’ Finds Lead, Two Added To ‘Council Of Dads’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday March 8, 2011 @ 3:40pm PSTTags: Ben Koldyke, Bent Casting, Jeffrey Tambor, The Council of Dads Pilot, TV, TV Casting, TV Deals, TV Pilots, Work It, Work It Pilot
Nellie Andreeva

Arrested Development alum Jeffrey Tambor is set to co-star in NBC’s single-camera comedy pilot Bent. The project, from writer/exec producer Tad Quill, is a romantic comedy about recently divorced Type-A single mother Alex (Amanda Peet), who tries hard not to … Read More »

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Madchen Amick, Kelli Garner Get Pilot Leads

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday March 8, 2011 @ 11:15am PSTTags: Awakening Pilot, Pan Am Casting, S.I.L.A. Pilot, TV, TV Casting, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Madchen Amick has landed the female lead in Stephan Gaghan’s NBC drama pilot S.I.L.A., a complex drama in the vein of Traffic set in the world of crime, law enforcement and politics in modern-day Los Angeles. Amick, repped by Gersh … Read More »

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PILOT SEASON: Source Material – Books & Public Domain Properties Are In, Twitter Out

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday March 8, 2011 @ 8:32am PSTTags: Book-to-Series, Good Christian Bitches, Grimm Pilot, NBC Playboy Pilot, Nellie Andreeva Deadline TV, Once Upon a Time Pilot, Pan Am TV Pilot, Prime Suspect, Primetime Pilot Panic, TV, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Part of a series that takes an analytical look at the current broadcast pilot season and some of its trends and heroes.

Once upon a time, there was a pilot season ruled by classic fairy tales and characters, real-life stories and books, with a dash of iconic brands and foreign … Read More »

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Emily VanCamp Set As The Lead In ABC’s ‘Revenge’ & Other Pilot Castings

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 7, 2011 @ 10:00pm PSTTags: ABC, Awakening, Awakening Pilot, CBS, Cooper & Stone, CW, Grace Pilot, Jeff and Jackie Filgos, My Freakin' Family Pilot, Nancy Travis, Revenge, Revenge Pilot, TV, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Brothers & Sisters alumna Emily VanCamp is returning to ABC as the star of a potential new primetime drama, Revenge. VanCamp has landed the lead in the project, written by Swingtown creator Mike Kelley and to be directed by Phillip … Read More »

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John C. McGinley, Adam Arkin & Larry Wilmore Join Comedy Pilots

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 7, 2011 @ 4:45pm PSTTags: Adam Arkin, Peter Knight Untitled CBS Comedy, Smothered Casting, Smothered Pilot, TV, TV Casting, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Scrubs alum John C. McGinley is set and Adam Arkin is in final negotiations to join the ABC multi-camera comedy pilot Smothered, from Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen. The Warner … Read More »

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Hank Azaria To Star In NBC’s Comedy Pilot ‘Free Agents’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 7, 2011 @ 11:25am PSTTags: Free Agents, Hank Azaria, NBC, TV, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Hank Azaria has been tapped to star in NBC’s single-camera comedy pilot Free Agents, lifting the contingency on the project. The romantic comedy, based on the UK series of the same name, explores the attraction between two quirky PR … Read More »

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Robert Carlyle & Emma Bell Join Broadcast Pilots

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 7, 2011 @ 11:10am PSTTags: NBC Pilots, Once Upon a Time Pilot, Once Upon a Time Pilot Casting, The Crossing Pilot, TV, TV Casting, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Former Stargate Universe star Robert Carlyle is set to portray Rumplestiltskin in ABC’s drama pilot Once Upon a Time, about a woman drawn into a town where the magic and mystery of fairy tales may be real and hold the … Read More »

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