With “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” crossing the $100 million mark and awards sure to come, Lee Daniels and screenwriter Danny Strong have decided to stick together for their next project. Deadline reports the duo will take their talents to the small screen through the guidance of Brian Grazer for “a unique family drama set in the world of a hip hop empire.” The untitled project, set to be developed for Fox under “a put pilot commitment,” will see Daniels make his first foray into television as he is set to helm the Strong-scripted pilot.
Another feature-film director is set to make his small-screen debut — Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of the pretty great and hilarious “Kings of Summer.” FX, according to Deadline, has ordered a pilot for the rom-com “You’re The Worst” from “Weeds” vet Stephen Falk. The show will focus on “a completely self-absorbed, proudly outspoken, and utterly insensitive writer living in L.A. who is deeply unsettled when he finds himself developing feelings for a recent one night stand.” Vogt-Roberts will helm the Falk-scripted pilot. It remains unclear which network the show will air, FX or its edgier sibling FXX.
Joining the mass migration of film stars towards television, Jamie Lee Curtis has finalized a deal — per Deadline — that sees her topline the horror show “The Final Girls” for ABC Family. Based on a spec script from unknown writer Jeff Dixon, the show follows “a group of girls who have, in essence, survived their own personal horror stories and are brought together by a mysterious older woman (Curtis) to channel the stress and scars of their experience for some greater good.” Curtis will be reunited with her “Halloween: H20” director Steve Miner, whom is set to executive produce the hour-long program as well as helming the eventual pilot.
First announced last summer, the Cold War espionage drama “The Missionary” had a hiccup in November when its original lead Aaron Paul dropped out and was replaced by Benjamin Walker (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”). Now, Deadline reports that HBO has passed on the pilot which focused on “a young American missionary who gets caught up in Cold War intrigue while helping a young woman escape East Berlin.” The TV development process is notoriously brutal and it goes to show that even HBO isn’t above stopping a show at the pilot stage if it’s not working. The network still has plenty of intriguing projects on the way anyway, with Cary Fukunaga’s “True Detective” and Damon Lindelof’s “The Leftovers” among some of things we can look forward to.
