TBS Orders, Casts Comedy Pilot From Todd Strauss-Schulson & Matt Fogel
TBS has quietly greenlighted and cast the leads of an untitled comedy pilot from writer Matt Fogel (Bob: The Musical) and writer-director Todd Strauss-Schulson (The Final Girls). Adam Shapiro (Steve Jobs, Sense8) and Jack Carpenter (The Good Wife, Reckless) have been tapped as the leads in the project, produced by Legendary Television and executive produced by Ben Stiller’s Red Hour.
As a new generation of women becomes more independent and assertive, their male counterparts are becoming more self-aware and sensitive. This is a show about two of those men – Todd (Shapiro) and Fogel (Carpenter) are the kind of guys who talk about their feelings, frequent therapy sessions and dabble with mobile phone meditation apps. (Todd is the more confident and aggressive of the two friends, while Fogel is the smarter and more sensitive.) They are searching Los Angeles for love, a good “SuperSoul Sunday” viewing party and a way to get off the Raya waiting list. Also cast in the pilot is Shenaz Treasury (One Life to Live) as Hillary, the wife of Todd and Fogel’s buddy from college.
Longtime best friends Fogel and Strauss-Schulson penned the pilot, inspired by their own lives as sensitive, modern men. They will executive produce with Ken Franchi, Strauss-Schulson’s partner in his production company Ulterior Productions. Red Hour is executive producing under the company’s first-look deal with Legendary TV.
At TBS, which is undergoing a brand transformation with a focus on “bold, socially driven” content, the Todd Strauss-Schulson/Matt Fogel project joins pilot The Group. As part of the makeover, the cable network is overhauling its programming slate, canceling all of its existing original live-action series over the past year.
Strauss-Schulson recently directed the feature The Final Girls, which was a runner-up for the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. He is repped by WME. Fogel is repped by UTA. Shapiro, Carpenter and Treasury are repped by Innovative Artists. Shapiro also is with Seven Summits Pictures & Management and Schreck Rose Capello & Adams. Red Hour is repped by WME.
The Todd Strauss-Schulson/Matt Fogel pilot joins two other pilots Legendary TV has in the hopper, Poor Richard’s Almanack at USA and Downward Dog at ABC. Additionally, the company recently completed production on the first seasons of its maiden scripted TV series, Colony at USA and Love at Netflix.
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