ABC's Libby & Malcolm, Salamander & Unit Zero; BET's Street Dreams; The CW's Insatiable & Life Sentence; and NBC's Drama High.
NBC's DRAMA HIGH
- The broadcast network has ordered a pilot for drama Drama High written by Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood). He executive produces with Flody Suarez, Jeffrey Seller and Michelle Lee. Universal Television, True Jack Productions and Seller Suarez Productions produce. Based on the book Drama High by Michael Sokolove and life rights of Lou Volpe, the project centers on a working class high school drama department and the students who come alive under a passionate teacher and family man whose dedication to the program galvanizes the entire town.
THE CW's LIFE SENTENCE
- The CW has given a pilot order to hourlong comedy Life Sentence starring Pretty Little Liars alum Lucy Hale. Erin Cardillo and Rich Keith wrote the pilot. They will executive produce with Bill Lawrence and Jeff Ingold. Warner Bros. Television and Doozer Productions produce. The project takes place when a young woman (Hale) diagnosed with terminal cancer finds out that she's not dying after all and has to learn to live with the choices she made when she decided to "live like she was dying."
THE CW's INSATIABLE
- The network has also handed a pilot order to drama Insatiable written by Lauren Gussis (Dexter). She executive produces with Ryan Seacrest, Nina Wass, Andrea Shay, Todd Hoffman and Dennis Kim. CBS Television Studios and Ryan Seacrest Productions produce. The project centers on what happens when a disgraced, dissatisfied civil lawyer-turned-beauty pageant coach takes on a vengeful, bullied teenager as a his client, he has no idea what he's about to unleash upon the world.
ABC's LIBBY & MALCOLM
- Monique Green (Fresh Off the Boat) has been cast on the comedy pilot starring Felicity Huffman and Courtney B. Vance. She will play Naya, Malcolm's (Vance) teenage daughter.
BET's STREET DREAMS
- The cable network has ordered a pilot for drama Street Dreams from Jonathan Levine, who will write and direct. He also serves as executive producer with Nas, Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell and Anthony Saleh. Electric City Entertainment produces. Set against the backdrop of a turbulent New York City in the early 1990s, the project is a show about music, family and the trials and tribulations of the rap game. It tracks the ascent of Nas, a young man from the Queens bridge projects who will go on to become a famous rapper, as he evolves from young man to crack dealer to rapper to adult.
ABC's UNIT ZERO
- ABC has given a pilot order to drama Unit Zero starring United States of Tara alum Toni Collette. Lindsey Shockley (black-ish) wrote the pilot. She will executive produce with Collette, Kenya Barris and director David Gordon Green. ABC Studios will produce. The project follows Jackie Fink (Collette), a brilliant but unassuming CIA engineer and single mom as she leads a team of desk jockeys into the field as secret agents. Overlooked in the workplace, their invisibility makes them perfect for the CIA's most covert missions.
ABC's SALAMANDER
- The network has also ordered a pilot for drama Salamander based on the 2012 Belgian series. Zoo's Jeff Pinkner, Andre Nemec, Josh Applebaum and Scott Rosenberg wrote the pilot. ABC Studios, Midnight Radio Productions, Keshet and Beta Film produce. The project revolves around a brilliant but misanthropic engineer who recruits a skeptical homeland security agent to help him track a mysterious bank robber whose theft of 66 specific safety deposit boxes, belonging to the elite and powerful. That sets in motion a series of blackmails that may be linked to a greater conspiracy.
