MIPTV: Amazon Starts Production on ‘Hand of God,’ ‘Cosmopolitans’ Pilots

Amazon Studios is keeping its development process humming with production on two new pilots for its third pilot season, debuting later this year on Amazon Instant Video.

The Cosmopolitans from Metropolitan writer-director Whit Stillman follows a group of American expats in Paris. Adam Brody and Chloe Sevigny lead a cast that includes Carrie MacLemore, Dree Hemingway, Freddy Asblom, Shaun Evans and Adriano Giannini. The half-hour dramatic comedy is set to begin shooting this week in Paris.

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Hand of God, a one-hour drama from executive producers Marc Forster, Ben Watkins, Ron Perlman, Brian Wilkins and Jeff King, follows the religious awakening of powerful Judge Harris (Perlman). The law-bending man with a call girl on the side suffers a mental breakdown and begins to rely on messages he believes are being sent by God through his ventilator-bound son. Dana Delany stars as the judge’s wife, Crystal. Garret Dillahunt, Andre Royo, Alona Tal, Julian Morris, Elizabeth McLaughlin and Emayatzy Corinealdi also star.

“We’re very pleased to be working with Whit, Ron, Ben, and Marc on developing these pilots,” said Amazon Studios director Roy Price. “The Cosmopolitans and Hand of God both contain rich stories and deep characters that we think customers will really enjoy. I’m looking forward to seeing our customers’ reactions when they debut.”

The Cosmopolitans will shoot on location in Paris, making it Amazon’s first project produced abroad. Price announced the start of principal photography during his keynote at international TV market MIPTV in Cannes on Wednesday.

Both pilots will be online tested by Amazon video’s audience before the studio makes a call on whether to order either to series.

Amazon plans to announce additional pilot projects for its third pilot season in the coming weeks. It announced May 31 that it had picked up two dramas, two comedies and two children’s series based on its second pilot season in February.