ABC is fired up to get a jump start on pilot season.
The Alphabet on Thursday formally greenlit its “Charlie’s Angels” reboot from Sony Pictures TV. Project is spearheaded by former “Smallville” stewards Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
Earlier this week, ABC gave a hefty pilot order to 20th Century Fox TV laffer “Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23,” which has “Modern Family” helmer Jason Winer attached to direct.
ABC is moving quickly on pilot orders this year, the first development cycle for Paul Lee after taking over as entertainment prexy last summer. Insiders say the aim is to get high-profile projects moving early in an effort to secure top-tier directors and actors before the crunch time of pilot season hits in February and March.
“Charlie’s Angels” redo, described as a “modern take” on the 1970s series and set in Miami, comes from Sony Pictures TV and Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films. Leonard Goldberg, producer on the original Spelling-Goldberg ABC drama, Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen will exec produce with Gough and Millar.
Robert Wagner is on board to provide the voice of mysterious detective agency boss Charlie, who dispatches the femme gumshoes. Casting for the three leads is under way.
Laffer “Don’t Trust” comes from scribes Dave Hemingson and Nahnatchka Khan. It revolves around an earnest girl from the heartland who is forced to move in with a sexy, unstable New York City party girl.
Script was originally developed for Fox in 2008. It didn’t go to pilot that year, but 20th execs kept it on the burner. ABC’s Lee sparked to the project and is said to have given it a hefty pilot commitment and license fees should the project go to series.
Hemingson and Khan will exec produce. In addition to Winer, “Modern Family” producer Jeff Morton is on board to produce “Don’t Trust.”
Hemingson fielded the ABC dramedy “The Deep End” last season and is an exec producer on Fox’s upcoming midseason comedy “Traffic Light.” Khan’s writing credits include “American Dad.”
Separately, Fox greenlit its first comedy pilot of the season on Wednesday. “I Hate My Teenage Daughter,” from Warner Bros. TV, centers on two mothers and their femme children. Sherry Bilsing-Graham and Ellen Kreamer (“The New Adventures of Old Christine”) are the scribes and exec producers.
Fox has already picked up two drama pilots: J.J. Abrams’ “Alcatraz” and Alex Kurtzman/Roberto Orci’s “Locke and Key.”
