Fox Developing Longform Event Series From M. Night Shyamalan & Bruce C. McKenna
Three months after Fox and FX Networks announced the launch of a new FX Prods.-based unit to supply them high-profile limited and miniseries, Fox has announced the first two event drama series it has put in development: Wayward Pines, from M. Night Shyamalan and Chad Hodge and the FX Prods. division; and Blood Brothers, from Bruce C. McKenna, Gary Randall and Tim Bogart’s Boardwalk Entertainment and Fox TV Studios. Fox plans to order at least one event series pilot this year and launch its first long-form series in 2014. “With top-notch auspices and feature-quality production plans, Wayward Pines and Blood Brothers represent exactly the kind of high-impact, 10- to 12-part events we set out to develop when we entered the limited series business,” said Fox chairman Kevin Reilly. “These two series are the first of many big ideas, big names and big talent that you can anticipate will be on our air in the next 12-24 months.”
Based on the best-selling novel Pines by Blake Crouch, Wayward Pines is an intense, mind-bending thriller evocative of the classic cult hit Twin Peaks. Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrives in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, on a mission to find two missing federal agents. But instead of answers, Ethan’s investigation only turns up more questions. What’s wrong with Wayward Pines? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the life he knew, from the husband and father he was, until he must face the terrifying reality that he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive. Wayward Pines was written on spec by Hodge (The Playboy Club) and executive produced by Shyamalan, Hodge, Donald De Line (Green Lantern) and Ashwin Rajan (After Earth). Shamyalan and Hodge are repped by WME.
Blood Brothers is the true story of the West Point Class of 1861. As the bitterly divided country tore itself apart over the issue of slavery, the West Point Brotherhood broke apart. Best friends, bonded in the intense crucible of the Academy, found themselves on opposite sides of a conflict that quickly became the bloodiest in U.S. history. For four violent years, these former comrades fought directly against each other, even as many of them rose from lowly second lieutenants to field generals. Throughout the conflict, however, they never lost their love and esteem for each other, which often resulted in many acts of kindness that stretched across enemy lines. Some died; others were broken by the conflict. But every one of the Brothers was utterly changed by a war that not only redefined America, but which still resonates today. Blood Brothers is written by McKenna, and executive produced by McKenna, Randall and Bogart. McKenna and Boardwalk are repped by CAA.
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