TNT orders big-name cop series
George Clooney, ’24’s’ Joel Surnow among producers
By Paul J. Gough
May 14, 2008, 08:03 AM
NEW YORK — TNT announced plans to extend its winning streak in scripted dramas with projects in development from big-time executive producers George Clooney, “24″ co-creator Joel Surnow and others.
Four of the series in development are cop-themed. “Delta Blues” is about a Memphis cop who is also an Elvis impersonator. It’s executive produced by Clooney, Grant Heslov, Abby Wolf-Weiss, Liz Garcia and Josh Horto (Warner Horizon Television and SmokeHouse). Another project is yet to be titled and focuses on a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent. Surnow is the executive producer with Todd Robinson and also the writer. And “Angel City” is an “Adam-12″-like drama written by L.A. cop Will Beall and Barry Schindel with Mandalay Television.
None of the projects was mentioned at Turner’s upfront, held at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Wednesday morning, the first time Turner had gone into upfront week. It’s not likely to be the last, judging from the positive reaction from buyers and the good vibes afterward from Turner execs who put on an 81-minute program that had everything — stars, lots of footage — that their broadcast rivals so far have lacked.
Also in development are “Tough Trade,” a look at Nashville music from Lionsgate Television and executive produced by Chris Offutt, Sean Furst and Bryan Furst; and an untitled family drama like “Little Miss Sunshine” executive produced by Rob Ulin.
Turner told advertisers that it was ready to dramatically increase its original content on TNT. The goal is to eventually have 80 percent original content weeknights, with original programming three nights a week by 2010.
Settling into its spot at the upfront week table, Turner joined ABC in taking shots at fourth-place broadcast network NBC by way of saying that Turner deserved to be ranked among broadcast networks for its ratings, reach and quality programming.
Entertainment chief Steve Koonin put up pictures of an “American Gladiator” and “Knight Rider” car Kitt, then compared them to the award-winning stars of “The Closer” and “Saving Grace,” both from TNT.
“You tell me which show is broadcast and which is cable,” Koonin said. He said that in the past five years, cable has made strides in attracting top talent and is offering shows whose quality rivals any broadcast network.
“Whether it’s scripted or unscripted, it’s being crafted by the help of amazing talent,” original programming chief Michael Wright said.
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George Clooney Producing Our Brand Is Crisis
George Clooney Producing Our Brand Is Crisis
George Clooney’s Smoke House and Warner Bros. Pictures will produce a remake of Rachel Boynton’s political documentary, Our Brand is Crisis as a possible dark comedy. Nothing yet from Clooney’s camp on if George will direct or star in the film about the dangers of “exporting” American democracy. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the Bolivian presidential election of 2002, when candidate Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (aka Goni) hired James Carville’s Washington, D.C.-based political consulting firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner to help him win. Goni’s poll numbers were dismal, with Bolivians accusing him of being too closely aligned with U.S. interests. Variety adds employing the same tactics they do in the U.S., Carville - who himself flew in - and his team used focus groups, sloganeering and smear tactics. Goni won by a narrow margin, but the work had only just begun for Carville’s team. Bolivia descended into crisis under Goni’s rule, and he was ultimately forced to resign. Peter Straughan to adapt Our Brand is Crisis; no production schedule has been set. (Movieweb)
Variety: The Innocent Man
December 6, 2006 by admin
Filed under General Articles, Movies
Clooney, Grisham team on ‘Innocent Man’
Actor buys screen rights to book with Heslov
By MICHAEL FLEMING, PAMELA MCCLINTOCK
Variety
Warner Independent Pictures and Smoke House partners George Clooney and Grant Heslov are buying screen rights to John Grisham’s nonfiction tome “The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.” Deal is the second in the past two weeks between WIP and Smoke House; Clooney and Heslov earlier came aboard to produce “White Jazz.” Details are still being worked out in the Grisham deal, but Clooney and Heslov are solely producing at this point.
Published in October by Doubleday, “Innocent Man” is the true story of a gross miscarriage of justice that sent Ron Williamson to Oklahoma’s death row for 11 years for a murder he did not commit. Among the flimsy evidence: eyewitness testimony from the man ultimately convicted of the murder.
Deal is the first studio pact in several years for Grisham, whose last novel adaptation was the Joe Roth-directed “Christmas With the Kranks.” After “The Firm” became a blockbuster, such Grisham courtroom thrillers as “The Rainmaker,” “The Client” and “A Time to Kill” routinely sparked fevered auctions and seven-figure movie deals, culminating in a then-record $8 million deal from New Regency for “Runaway Jury.”
Even before studios stopped paying outrageous sums for books, Grisham and his longtime editor-dealmaker David Gernert changed the way they sold his titles. After a self-imposed hiatus on deals, Grisham returned but became more interested in quality control and less interested in big paydays.
Grisham had some control under the old deals — he famously nixed a “Runaway Jury” package of star Will Smith and director Mike Newell — but he wanted to be collaborative in the creative process.
That meant unorthodox deals, as with “Mickey,” which he and director Hugh Wilson co-financed and self-distributed. Grisham’s movie appetite has been rekindled, and unfilmed titles “Bleachers,” “The Broker,” “The Testament” and “The Partner” are in various stages of rights discussions.
Grisham ultimately will be paid a seven-figure against gross participation deal if “The Innocent” gets made. But his approval of the WIP deal came only after several conversations with Clooney and Heslov and after sparking to their Oscar-nominated WIP film “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
Clooney will star in and produce “White Jazz,” a Matthew Michael Carnahan-scripted adaptation of the James Ellroy novel that Joe Carnahan will direct.
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