Betsy_Beers_Shonda_Rhimes_Emily_Halpern_Sarah_Haskins_Split - H 2015
AP Images/Invision; Courtesy of PMKShondaland is continuing its push into comedy.
Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers‘ production company is teaming with Trophy Wife creators Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins to develop half-hour Splitsville for ABC, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The comedy centers on a group of single residents of a suburban cul-de-sac, who in the wake of a wave of divorces join forces to raise their kids and get through it together.
Halpern and Haskins will pen the script and exec produce the comedy alongside Shondaland’s Rhimes and Beers. The project marks a reunion for Rhimes and Beers with Halpern, who was an exec story editor/writer on Grey’s Anatomy spinoff Private Practice.
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The sale is the first of the season for both ABC Studios-based Shondaland and Halpern and Haskins.
Splitsville marks Shondaland’s latest foray into comedy, which remains a priority for the company after Thursday night dramas Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder and rookie The Catch. This is the fourth year that Shondaland has developed comedy.
Last year, Shondaland teamed with Scandal co-star Scott Foley for a marriage comedy. The year before, Rhimes and Beers teamed with Scandal Emmy winner Dan Bucatinsky to adapt his book Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight as an hourlong dramedy called Show & Tell. The company also developed a comedy from Cougar Town producers and had a half-hour called I Hate L.A. Dudes.
“I have a huge place in my heart for comedy, and Shonda started with movie comedies,” Beers told THR last year. “We both feel like we’re desperate to have a comedy that lives on television because we both love TV comedy so much.”
Halpern and Haskins, fan favorites for their short-lived cult ABC comedy Trophy Wife, are repped by UTA, Mosaic and Warren Dern. Rhimes is with ICM Partners; Beers is with UTA and Warren Dern.
