NBC Gives Pilot Orders to Steven Spielberg Musical, Romantic Comedy
NBC has picked up a musical from .. Steven Spielberg?
Yup, it's true. Smash, based on an idea by the busy producer (who has Terra Nova and Falling Skies on tap), is an hourlong musical series that follows characters who come together for the exhilirating ride of putting on a Broadway musical.
In other words, a scripted "making of" series that may be prime for broadcast TV, due to the success of Fox's Glee.
Written and executive produced by playwright and TV producer Theresa Rebeck, the project will also be executive produced by Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for DreamWorks TV; Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago, Hairspray); and Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray songwriters).
Shaiman and Wittman will pen original songs for the project.
Michael Mayer, director of Broadway's Spring Awakening and American Idiot, is in negotiations to direct.
I Hate That I Love You, from 20th Television, was also ordered to pilot by NBC.
According to the logline, it is a "twisty, single-camera romantic comedy in which a straight couple introduces two of its lesbian friends to one another and what results is both instant attraction and a pregnancy."
Jhoni Marchinko of Will and Grace will executive produce and write.
These are the first pilot orders from new NBC entertainment chief Bob Greenblatt.
With previously announced pilots from Battlestar Galactica's Ron Moore and a 1960s-set drama about a group of women who work as Playboy Bunnies, this makes four pilot orders for NBC.
Marisa Guthrie in New York contributed to this report.
