Oscar Winner Troy Kotsur To Star In TV Series About California School For The Deaf Football Team In Works At Disney+

Lynette Rice
·2 min read
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After a bidding war, ABC Signature has secured exclusive TV rights to the extraordinary story of the 2021 football team from the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, CA.

ABC Signature and Disney Branded Television are developing the untitled project for Disney+. Oscar winner Troy Kotsur (CODA) will play the team’s coach and executive produce the project with his CODA co-star Marlee Matlin. Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) is attached to direct the pilot and executive produce, as well as write the pilot along with Ben Shelton (Candy Jar) who will write and executive produce.

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Kevin Falls (The West Wing, Pitch) will executive produce and serve as showrunner.

The studio will partner with the school and the California Department of Education to tell the story of the team’s historical undefeated season and how it earned a spot in the California State Championship game for the first time in school history. Historically a team that had never experienced anything close to a winning season, they went undefeated all the way to the state title game in their magical season. Playing mostly hearing teams, the Cubs passed and ran through their league surprising everyone but themselves. Their success captured the hearts of the nation, leading to their captains being on the field during the coin flip at Super Bowl LVI in February of this year.

Additional executive producers include Bert Salke (Alaska), Gary Foster (Sleepless In Seattle), Russ Krasnoff (Community), Rainn Wilson (The Office), Jack Jason, Bill Horberg (The Queen’s Gambit) and Christina Lurie (Persuasion). John Maucere (No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie) an alumnus of California School for the Deaf, will consult and co-produce.

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