These Girls Rashida Jones - P 2012
Getty ImagesNBC has added a pair of comedy pilots from Happy Endings alum Casey Wilson and Parks and Recreation‘s Rashida Jones.
The orders mark the fourth and fifth comedies picked up for the 2014-15 season and will join two half-hours already ordered to series.
First up, Mason Twins, from ABC Studios where Wilson and Raphael are based, is a single-camera entry about fraternal twins Pender and Lizzie Mason. After having been estranged for 15 years, the duo reconnect after Lizzie’s perfect city life falls apart and she returns to hersuburban town to discover that her sister hasn’t matured beyond her teen queen days.
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Wilson and Raphael will pen the script and executive produce alongside Stacy Traub. The network picked up the project with a script commitment in October. The comedy was one of two projects the duo sold this development season joining ABC’s half-hour pitch DINKS (aka Double Income No Kids). The producing duo also collaborated with feature film Bride Wars and Sundance’s Ass Backwards.
Worth noting: Wilson and Happy Endings creator/fiancee David Caspe both now have pilots in the mix at NBC this season. Caspe’s, funnily enough, is titled Marry Me.)
Second, A to Z hails from Jones and producing partner Will McCormack‘s Warner Bros. Television-based Le Train Train banner and was one of multiple projects the duo sold this development season to broadcast and cable nets. The single-camera effort is described as a romantic comedy set in the world of an online dating company that details the “A to Z’s” of a relationship, from meeting to break-up. The ensemble project navigates the complicated world of modern dating and poses the question: Is there such a thing as destiny?
Ben Queen (Cars 2) will pen the script and executive produce alongside Jones and McCormack. The sale extends the network’s relationship with the Parks and Recreation actress, who with co-star Rob Lowe will exit the series after its 13th episode this season. NBC first picked up the project with a put-pilot commitment in September. It marks the first pilot order for Jones aftershe and McCormack inked their overall deal with WBTV in 2013.
Meanwhile, NBC has added its fourth drama pilot with Coercion, from Keshet Media’s Avi Nir and writer/exec producer/director George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau). The Universal Television drama is described as a thriller that revolves around the O’Connor family and their son, Alex, a decorated American war hero and CIA analyst who is a true patriot and loves his country and family. Unbeknown to him, both of his parents and sister are part of a dormant Russian sleeper cell that has just been reactivated. Once the parents get reluctantly pulled back in, the stakes rise and the are coerced into spying on their own son and turning him against his country. It’s based on the Israeli format The Gordin Cell.
E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
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