Will Ferrell, Adam McKay to Produce NBC Comedy With 'Bachelorette' Writer

4:30 PM PDT 9/14/2012 by Lesley Goldberg

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The single-camera workplace comedy is based on writer-director Leslye Headland's play, "Assistance," which was loosely based on her time working as Harvey Weinstein's assistant.

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Leslye Headland

NBC is looking for a good assistant.

Assistance: Theater Review

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The network has given script orders to Assistance, a single-camera workplace comedy based on the play written and directed by Leslye Headland that was loosely based on her time working as an assistant to the Weinstein Co.'s Harvey Weinstein.

THEATER REVIEW: 'Assistance'

Like the play, the comedy from Universal Television revolves around Nora, an idealistic assistant who attempts to find balance in her life while juggling the demands of a larger-than-life boss.

Headland will pen the script and executive produce alongside Gary Sanchez Productions' Jessica Elbaum, Owen Burke, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.

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Headland's play starred Virginia Kull as the assistant who takes over as Daniel's (who never appears in the play) assistant, which her predecessor describes as "living the last 30 minutes of Goodfellas over and over again.

THR theater critic David Rooney called the play an "anthropological study of the desperate survival instincts of the masochistic young and the hungry."

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The project marks the latest sale for the scribe, who ironically also sold her feature filmmaking debut Bachelorette to the Weinstein Co. The feature, which was also produced by Ferrell and McKay's Gary Sanchez banner, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and went on to bow at the top of the iTunes VOD charts before its theatrical premiere this month. Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, James Marsden, Kyle Bornheimer, Rebel Wilson and Adam Scott star in the ensemble comedy.

Headland, whose writing credits also include FX's critically praised Terriers, is repped by CAA, Caliber Media and Myman Abel.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit