Lionsgate Inks ‘Kicking and Screaming’ Duo to Overall Deal

Lionsgate Television continues to ramp up its unscripted roster.

David Shumsky and Mark Harris have signed an overall deal with the studio, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Under the pact, the duo — who recently landed Kicking and Screaming at Fox — will develop both scripted and unscripted fare for the studio via their Ohana Pictures banner.

Eight-episode unscripted series Kicking and Screaming marks the first sale under their pact.

Shumsky and Harris will work with Lionsgate’s roster of producers including Matt Kunitz, Adam DiVello, Dave Caplan, Eli Frankel, Jonathan Karsh and more.

The deal builds on Lionsgate‘s commitment to unscripted fare after buying a major stake in Craig Piligian’s Pilgrim Studios. 

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Shumsky was vp development for executive producer Kunitz at FremantleMedia North America and counts Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Last Comic Standing among his credits. Before partnering with Shumsky, Harris was in the film world. He is an ABC Writing Fellowship Program finalist, a Sundance Screenwriters Lab Competition finalist, a quarterfinalist in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting and an MFA recipient from USC’s Film and TV Production Program.

“Mark and David are spectacular producers, and come to us with a range of bold, fresh concepts to develop and fertile worlds to build,” Jennifer O’Connell, executive vp alternative programming at Lionsgate Television, said Tuesday in a statement. “We are delighted to have this creative duo at Lionsgate Television in an exclusive role, and look to them to help the studio accelerate its momentum and expand further in the unscripted arena.”

Harris and Shumsky are with WME.