HBO Gives Series Pickup to Aaron Sorkin Project

HBO has given a series order to the untitled Aaron Sorkin project, set a cable news organization.

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The hourlong series centers on a cable news anchor, his executive producer, the newsroom staff and their boss as they set out on a mission to do the news in the face of commercial and corporate obstacles -- and their own personal entanglements.

Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Alison Pill, John Gallgher Jr., Olivia Munn, Dev Patel, Thomas Sadoski and Sam Waterston star.

Daniels' role was originally written as a fortysomething and marks the actor's first regular series television role.

Sorkin, who won an Academy Award for penning the screenplay for The Social Network, will executive produce and write. To prepare, he spent time with high-profile cable news personalities, like Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, to understand the world he planned to recreate.

Scott Rudin (The Social Network) and Alan Poul (Six Feet Under, The Big C) serve as executive producers, with Greg Mottola directing the pilot and Francine Maisler as the casting director.

For Sorkin, the project will be his first on cable, with his three previous TV series (Sports Night, The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) airing on broadcast (the first on ABC and the last two on NBC). He is also teaming with The Office's John Krasinski for a Chauteau Marmont miniseries at HBO, based on the book Life at the Marmont, by the hotel's co-owners Raymond R. Sarlot and Fred Basten.