AMC pilot overview

There is a lot of buzz building for three of the six AMC scripts that took part in the network's annual pilot script "bake-off" earlier this month: Voyage, The Man With the Golden Ears and The 4th Estate. In the "bake-off," six scripts identified by AMC brass faced off in a series of elaborate presentations, with the producing team for each project showing a promo reel and each creator pitching in detail the series beyond the pilot, including mapping out the first season. AMC brass are not expected to make a decision until the week of April 4, when they will probably pick up one or two of the scripts to pilots.

The number of pilot pickups will probably depend on whether AMC lands the MRC-produced David Fincher-Kevin Spacey drama project House of Cards. AMC is one of several cable networks bidding on the project, with HBO and Starz also said to be in the running. If AMC lands House of Cards, it is expected to pick up one pilot developed internally; if not, two of the six scripts showcased this week will probably get green light, but three of the six finalists have been getting a lot of buzz:

The Voyage, from writer/exec producer John Shiban, is described as a grounded look at human beings' first contact with extraterrestrial life seen through the eyes of an ambitious female scientist and her team at Jet Propulsion Laboratories. Sony TV and Lynda Obst are producing.

The Man With the Golden Ears is based on the Danish series about a record executive with kids who tries to balance work and family life. Scott Rosenberg is the writer/exec producer for Fox TV Studios.

The 4th Estate, from writer/exec producer Gideon Yago and Landscape/FremantleMedia, centers on Dan Hilton, a respected family man and journalist who, by investigating a major congressional scandal, risks exposing his quest for truth as a lie and that he has a second family in DC.

Source: Deadline