Michael Bay Cop Drama Gets Cast-Contingent Pilot Order at A&E

A&E is betting big on Michael Bay.

The cable network has ordered his Platinum Dunes-produced cop drama to pilot. The tentatively titled Occult will center on an FBI agent who has returned from administrative leave after going off the deep end while investigating his wife’s disappearance. Eager to be back on the job, he is paired with an agent with her own complicated backstory who specializes in the occult. Together, they will solve cases for the newly formed occult crimes task force.

James Wong (Final Destination, American Horror Story) is set to pen the script, with Bay and Dunes partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller serving as executive producers. There is no studio attached yet.

The project joins Bay's growing cadre of scripted projects as the Transformers producer looks to expand his brand to television. His Dunes banner has pirate drama Black Sails, a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, set up at Starz and an action drama pilot titled The Last Ship in contention at TNT.

The sale marks the continuation of A&E's push into the scripted genre. The cable network is prepping Bates Motel, the Carlton Cuse Psycho prequel starring Vera Farmiga that was ordered straight to series. The net has crime pilot Those Who Kill with Glen Morgan, Wong's former writing partner, in contention as well. 

Bay is repped by WME and Sloane Offer; Wong is repped by WME and Nelson Davis.

Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com; Twitter: @LaceyVRose