FOX UNVEILS FIRST TWO MAJOR EVENT SERIES IN DEVELOPMENT
M. Night Shyamalan's WAYWARD PINES and Bruce C. McKenna's BLOOD BROTHERS Kick Off FOX's Marquee Event Series Development Slate
Marking its official entry into developing long-form event series, Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX) announced today that it has inked development deals for two large-scale drama projects: WAYWARD PINES, from M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense," "Unbreakable") and FX Productions; and BLOOD BROTHERS, from Bruce C. McKenna ("Band of Brothers," "The Pacific"), Gary Randall ("The Glades," "Saving Grace"), Timothy Scott Bogart ("Majors & Minors," "Touched"), Boardwalk Entertainment Group and Fox Television Studios.
FOX will order its first event series pilot(s) later this year with plans to debut its first long-form event series in 2014.
"With top-notch auspices and feature-quality production plans, WAYWARD PINES and BLOOD BROTHERS represent exactly the kind of high-impact, 10- to 12-part events we set out to develop when we entered the limited series business," said Kevin Reilly, Chairman of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. "These two series are the first of many big ideas, big names and big talent that you can anticipate will be on our air in the next 12-24 months."
Based on the best-selling novel, "Pines," by Blake Crouch and brought to life by suspense-driven filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, WAYWARD PINES is an intense, mind-bending thriller evocative of the classic cult hit "Twin Peaks." Secret Service agent ETHAN BURKE arrives in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, on a mission to find two missing federal agents. But instead of answers, Ethan's investigation only turns up more questions. What's wrong with Wayward Pines? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the life he knew, from the husband and father he was, until he must face the terrifying reality that he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive. WAYWARD PINES is based on a spec script written by Chad Hodge ("The Playboy Club") and executive-produced by Shyamalan, Hodge, Donald De Line ("Green Lantern," "The Italian Job") and Ashwin Rajan ("After Earth").
BLOOD BROTHERS is the true story of the West Point Class of 1861. As our bitterly divided country tore itself apart over the issue of slavery, the West Point Brotherhood broke apart. Best friends, bonded in the intense crucible of the Academy, found themselves on opposite sides of a conflict that quickly became the bloodiest in U.S. history. For four violent years, these former comrades fought directly against each other, even as many of them rose from lowly second lieutenants to field generals. Throughout the conflict, however, they never lost their love and esteem for each other, which often resulted in many acts of kindness that stretched across enemy lines. Some died; others were broken by the conflict. But every one of the Brothers was utterly changed by a war that not only redefined America, but which still resonates today. BLOOD BROTHERS is written by McKenna, and executive-produced by McKenna, Randall and Bogart.
M. Night Shyamalan's WAYWARD PINES and Bruce C. McKenna's BLOOD BROTHERS Kick Off FOX's Marquee Event Series Development Slate
Marking its official entry into developing long-form event series, Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX) announced today that it has inked development deals for two large-scale drama projects: WAYWARD PINES, from M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense," "Unbreakable") and FX Productions; and BLOOD BROTHERS, from Bruce C. McKenna ("Band of Brothers," "The Pacific"), Gary Randall ("The Glades," "Saving Grace"), Timothy Scott Bogart ("Majors & Minors," "Touched"), Boardwalk Entertainment Group and Fox Television Studios.
FOX will order its first event series pilot(s) later this year with plans to debut its first long-form event series in 2014.
"With top-notch auspices and feature-quality production plans, WAYWARD PINES and BLOOD BROTHERS represent exactly the kind of high-impact, 10- to 12-part events we set out to develop when we entered the limited series business," said Kevin Reilly, Chairman of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. "These two series are the first of many big ideas, big names and big talent that you can anticipate will be on our air in the next 12-24 months."
Based on the best-selling novel, "Pines," by Blake Crouch and brought to life by suspense-driven filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, WAYWARD PINES is an intense, mind-bending thriller evocative of the classic cult hit "Twin Peaks." Secret Service agent ETHAN BURKE arrives in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, on a mission to find two missing federal agents. But instead of answers, Ethan's investigation only turns up more questions. What's wrong with Wayward Pines? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the life he knew, from the husband and father he was, until he must face the terrifying reality that he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive. WAYWARD PINES is based on a spec script written by Chad Hodge ("The Playboy Club") and executive-produced by Shyamalan, Hodge, Donald De Line ("Green Lantern," "The Italian Job") and Ashwin Rajan ("After Earth").
BLOOD BROTHERS is the true story of the West Point Class of 1861. As our bitterly divided country tore itself apart over the issue of slavery, the West Point Brotherhood broke apart. Best friends, bonded in the intense crucible of the Academy, found themselves on opposite sides of a conflict that quickly became the bloodiest in U.S. history. For four violent years, these former comrades fought directly against each other, even as many of them rose from lowly second lieutenants to field generals. Throughout the conflict, however, they never lost their love and esteem for each other, which often resulted in many acts of kindness that stretched across enemy lines. Some died; others were broken by the conflict. But every one of the Brothers was utterly changed by a war that not only redefined America, but which still resonates today. BLOOD BROTHERS is written by McKenna, and executive-produced by McKenna, Randall and Bogart.
These sound great! I'm looking forward to them,even if M.Night hasn't been getting any homers the last few years..
ReplyDeleteFirst one is right - it sounds very much like Twin Peaks in many ways. I'll be interested to see how that one goes.
ReplyDeleteBoth sound interesting but especially the Civil War one. I do like a historical drama - the main networks haven't done a lot of these in recent years.
ReplyDeleteI have very little interest in the first since I have yet to like an M Night Shyamalan film.
ReplyDeleteSo it's mind-bending is it? Who else bets they're all dead? XD
The second mini-series sounds awesome and with credentials like McKenna has I expect huge things!
FOX should pass on both. M. Night Shyamalan is a hack and TV hasn't been interested in a Civil War series since the eighties when North and South and The Blue and the Grey were popular.
ReplyDeleteWell both sounds very interesting, but I hope Shyamalan does a better job with this then his recent movies.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think Civil war media is all the rage right now!
ReplyDeleteI think that networks are trying to capitalize on the fact that the Hatfields and McCoys (post Civil War related) and Lincoln being such huge hits this year. Not to mention everything corresponds with the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
On top of that the HUGE event mini-series Grant vs Lee (once called To Appomattox) will be coming out....
What exactly is an "event series"? Just a miniseries?
ReplyDeleteBroadcast networks have been buying all kinds of period dramas for the last few years, including Civil War dramas, and they never make it past the pilot stage.
ReplyDeleteyep
ReplyDeleteNice to see serialized shows are not dying out on networks...
ReplyDeleteWayward Pines sounds awesome! Hope it makes it to TV! The other is NMS.
ReplyDeleteWayward sounds very interesting, and M. Night seems the right man for it.
ReplyDeleteThe other one not so much, but I've loved previous McKenna work, so might give it a shot.
Wayward Pines sound VERY interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe Bortherhood could be good too, considering it's in the Civil War Era...
After I read this - I grabbed Pines on my Kindle App and absolutely loved the book. I definitely see it a mini-series, not a television show with multiple seasons.
ReplyDelete