Development News - February 26, 2020
ABC's Valley Trash; CBS' Clarice; The CW's Kung Fu & The Lost Boys; NBC's La Brea; and Showtime's How to Make Love to a Black Woman.
ABC NEW PILOT ORDER
- VALLEY TRASH (Comedy, Single Camera) - Starring Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl). Written by Niki Schwartz-Wright. Executive produced by Schwartz-Wright, Nahnatchka Khan and Jen Carreras. Produced by Lee. Produced by Universal Television, 20th Century Fox Television and Fierce Baby Productions. Logline: The Harmans are a scrappy, blue-collar family living in the deep Valley who suddenly experience a major culture clash when their 14-year-old daughter gets accepted to a prestigious Los Angeles private high school filled with schools and parents who want nothing to do with her, her family or their 818 area code.
SHOWTIME PILOT PASSED ON
- HOW TO MAKE LOVE TO A BLACK WOMAN (Comedy, Single Camera) - Written by Cathy Kisakye. Directed by Naima Ramos-Chapman. Executive produced by Kisakye, Ramos-Chapman, Lena Waithe and Rishi Rajani. Produced by Hillman Grad Productions. Starring Kendrick Sampson, Carra Patterson, Mario Van Peebles, Tonya Pinkins and Amanda Jahava.
THE CW's KUNG FU
- Olivia Liang will play the lead role on the drama pilot written by Christina M. Kim. She is currently recurring on The CW's Legacies. She also appeared in an episode of Hulu's Into the Dark earlier this year.
- She will play Nicky Chen, a young Chinese-American woman who drops out of college to go on a life-changing journey in an isolated Chinese monastery. When she returns to find her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice - all while searching for the assassin who killed her mentor and is now targeting her.
CBS' CLARICE
- Rebecca Breeds will star in the title role on the drama pilot (which has a major series commitment) written by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet. She has previously recurred on Freeform's Pretty Little Liars, The CW's The Originals and CBS' The Code.
- She will play Clarice Starling. Brilliant and vulnerable, she graduated Magna from UVA with a double major in Psych and Criminology. Her bravery gives her an inner light that draws monsters and madmen to her. Her complex psychological makeup comes from a challenging childhood, and her drive comes from her need to escape the burden of family secrets that have haunted her throughout her life.
NBC's LA BREA
- Natalie Zea has scored the female lead on the drama pilot starring Michael Raymond-James. She previously starred for three seasons in FX's Justified, one season in FOX's The Following and four seasons in TBS' The Detour. She is currently recurring on FOX's 9-1-1: Lone Star.
- She will play Claire Wolcott, a busy working mother who's sometimes a little overprotective and just trying to hold it all together.
THE CW's THE LOST BOYS
- Branden Cook, Lincoln Younes and Ruby Cruz have been cast in lead roles on the drama pilot written by Heather Mitchell and Rob Thomas. Cook is a relative newcomer who appears in HBO's upcoming drama Industry. Younes recently starred in ABC's one-season drama Grand Hotel. Cruz had a recurring role on the second season of Hulu's Castle Rock.
- Cook will Garrett, the older of the two brothers, who have moved with their mother to the North Carolina seaside community.
- Younes will play Benjamin, the charismatic leader of the gang of vampires.
- Cruz will play Elsie, who sparks immediately with the new guy in town, Garrett.
