‘Blood Relative’ Drama From Chris Levinson Gets Fox Cast-Contingent Pilot Order; Phillip Noyce To Direct

Nellie Andreeva
·2 min read

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Fox has given a cast-contingent pilot order to Blood Relative, a forensic genealogy-themed crime drama from writer-producer Chris Levinson (Tyrant) and producer Liza Chasin (Tales of the City). Phillip Noyce (The Resident) has come on board to direct the potential pilot, from Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content, which will co-produce with Fox Entertainment.

Blood Relative is based on James Renner’s 2018 article “Beyond the Jungle of Bad: The True Story of Two Women from California Who Are Solving All the Mysteries,” about Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick and Dr. Margaret Press, who have combined their genealogy expertise to push the boundaries of forensic science and help law enforcement identify Joe and Jane Does and track down serial killers.

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Written by Levinson and Renner, Blood Relative centers on genetic genealogy, the best new tool in crime scene forensics, and nobody knows it like Louise Kelly. Too bad she’s impossible to deal with.

Levinson and Renner executive produce with Noyce and Chasin via her 3 Dot Productions. The project stems from Levinson’s overall deal with Paramount TV, Chasin’s first-look TV deal with Anonymous Content and the first-look Anonymous and Paramount had for the past five years.

2020 Fox Pilots & Series Orders

Blood Relative also marks a return to the broadcast space for Paramount Television, which announced its arrival in 2013 with the CBS drama pilot Beverly Hills Cop, based on the Paramount movie franchise. Paramount Television was involved in three broadcast pilots early on — all based on Paramount feature titles — Beverly Hills Cop and Fox’s Minority Report, which went to series, and Urban Cowboy, which was executive produced by Levinson.

For the past five years, the company had focused entirely on cable and streaming fare but reestablishing foothold in network TV was one of the goals of Paramount TV President Nicole Clemens when she took over the company in 2018.

Noyce previously directed the pilot for Fox’s medical drama The Resident and served as an executive producer on the series, now in its third season.

Blood Relative takes a different angle at genealogy, an area Fox brass have been interested in and recently pursued with drama series Almost Family.

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