ABC has picked up “The Trustee,” a comedy pilot from writers Jay Scherick and David Ronn, plus executive producers Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman, Variety has learned.
The hourlong project is described as a fun, female buddy cop comedy. The pilot follows a stubborn detective who finds unlikely help from her precinct’s trustee, a larger-than-life ex-con finishing out her prison sentence doing menial tasks for the police department. Though the duo has completely opposing views on crime and punishment, a highly entertaining and successful partnership is born.
Scherick and Ronn co-wrote the pilot and will serve as executive producers with Banks and Handelman, who are producing through their Brownstone Productions banner. Warner Bros. Television is the studio.
The pilot pickup marks a move into broadcast for Brownstone Prods., which has had much success on the big screen with the “Pitch Perfect” franchise. The production company has a number of TV projects in development at various broadcast networks, which are all in contention for the 2017-2018 season.
In addition to this pilot, ABC has ordered comedy pilots for “Start Up” starring Zach Braff; “Libby & Malcolm,” starring Felicity Huffman and Kenya Barris; “Raised By Wolves” from Greg Berlanti and Diablo Cody; plus a show about a city mayor from “Hamilton” star Daveed Diggs. As for dramas, the network has pilots for a Shondaland legal drama; time-travel series “The Crossing”; magician-centric show “Deception”; Carol Mendelsohn’s “Doomsday”; Daniel Dae Kim’s “The Good Doctor”; and a project from Marc Cherry starring Reba McEntire. The network also picked up “Marvel’s The Inhumans” straight-to-series.
To stay updated with pilot season, check out Variety Insight’s Pilot Scorecard.
