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Alchemy has acquired the political drama starring Nicolas Cage, while in a separate deal BBC Worldwide North America will present the theatrical premiere of We Come As Friends.

Austin Stark directed The Runner, about an ideaological politician who confronts hard truths about his dysfunctional life.

Sarah Paulson, Connie Nielsen, Wendell Pierce, Bryan Batt and Peter Fonda round out the key cast.

Alchemy plans to release The Runner later this year.

Bingo Gubelmann, Benji Kohn, Glenn Williamson, Erika Hampson and Chris Papavasiliou produced, while the executive producer roster includes Noah Millman, Ruth Mutch, Sam Bisbee, Tom Conigliaro, Galt Niederhoffer and Todd Cohen.

Alchemy vp of acquisitions Jeff Deutchman negotiated the North American deal with Wme Global and Alan Sacks of Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein & Selz PC. Fortitude International handles international sales.

BBC Worldwide North America will present the worldwide theatrical premiere of We Come As Friends from documentarian Hubert Sauper at the IFC Center in New York on August...

TNT has handed out a pilot order to the fantasy drama "Lumen" which will be produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television. "Captain America: The First Avenger" helmer Joe Johnson will direct the pilot.

The story follows a famous fantasy novel series author who suddenly disappears and a family of four who are transported to the mystical alternate world that inspired her work.

Once there, however, they are plunged into the middle of a war raging between rival magical forces of light and darkness. Facing peril at every turn, the family must unravel a complicated mystery to find their way home.

Chris Black ("Mad Men," "Desperate Housewives") will pen the script and executive produce with Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, James Frey, Todd Cohen and Joe Johnson.

Source: THR...

TNT is getting into the fantasy game with an ambitious pilot order from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and director Joe Johnston.

The network has picked up Lumen, about a family trapped in an alternate universe. Here’s the pitch: “The famous author of a best-selling series of fantasy books suddenly disappears, and a family of four finds themselves transported to the mystical alternate world that inspired her work. Once there, however, they are plunged into the middle of a war raging between rival magical forces, of light and darkness. Facing peril at every turn, the family must unravel a...

"Ghostwriter" hasn't been around for nearly 20 years, but secrets behind the educational children's series are now being revealed ... and they are pretty freaking bizarre.

"Ghostwriter" producer and writer Kermit Frazier revealed "Ghostwriter’s" true identity in a recent interview with The New York Times' blog The Local. “Ghostwriter was a runaway slave during the Civil War,” Frazier said. “He was killed by slave catchers and their dogs as he was teaching other runaway slaves how to read in the woods. His soul was kept in the book and released once Jamal [Sheldon Turnipseed] discovered the book.”

Sorry, what?!

Each episode of the PBS series, which ran from 1992 to 1995, presented a mystery that the diverse team of kids -- Jamal, Lenni (Blaze Berdahl), Alex (David Lopez) Gaby (Mayteana Morales and later Melissa Gonzales), Tina (Tram-Anh Tran), Rob (Todd Alexander), Hector (William Hernandez) and Casey (Lateaka Vinson) -- would solve using reading and writing tools,...

The blockbuster success of AMC’s The Walking Dead has not gone unnoticed outside of cable. The CW announced Friday that it had made a speculative buy of Awakening, a zombie survival drama focusing on two young sisters.

The series comes from writers William Laurin and Glenn Davis, who will also also be executive producers. The two have worked on relatively small projects so far, including sci-fi dramas The Listener and 1-800-Missing, both of which found their primary audience in Canada. Other producers announced include Howard T. Owens (Master Chef, The Biggest Loser), Carolyn Bernstein and Todd Cohen. A spec buy is one of the earliest stages of development, so whether a pilot or a series gets ordered is still very much up in the air.

It’s not hard to see why ...

Click to continue reading CW Bites On Zombie Apocalypse Series ‘Awakening’...

It had to happen. The popular and critical success of AMC's The Walking Dead — which is quite possibly the best thing to happen to the zombie genre since, well, forever — has already spawned an imitator.

Last Friday the CW announced that it had made a speculative buy of Awakening, a zombie survival drama focusing on two young sisters from the Canadian writing team of William Laurin and Glenn Davis (The Listener), reports Deadline. Howard T. Owens (Master Chef, The Biggest Loser), Carolyn Bernstein and Todd Cohen have also been announced as producers.

Such a buy doesn't guarantee anything, of course, other than giving the network the option to develop the project further.

A zombie series would give The CW some additional street cred in the horror genre, assuming that the idea is fresh and original. The zombie craze is in high gear right now (in Hollywood, nothing exceeds like excess…...

The CW ("Smallville"), envious of AMC's runaway zombie hit series "The Walking Dead", has now made a 'spec script' purchase for "Awakening', a zombie drama from Canadian writer-producers William Laurin and Glenn Davis ("The Listener"), to be produced by Reveille and Warner Bros TV as a potential pilot.

Premise of "Awakening", follows two sisters who confront each other, during the beginning of a 'zombie uprising'.

Laurin, Davis, Howard T. Owens, Carolyn Bernstein and Todd Cohen will executive produce.

Click the image to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The 2010 Toronto Zombie Walk"...

It's like The Walking Dead for young females. The CW is yet to make its first in-cycle pilot order this season, but the network just made a late spec script purchase with Awakening, a zombie drama from Canadian writer-producers William Laurin and Glenn Davis (The Listener). Going after a spec so late in the game usually means that the network has a potential pilot order in mind, but for now, the CW is not going that far with Awakening, which centers on two sisters who come of age and face off against one another amidst the beginning of a zombie uprising. Laurin and Davis' script was first taken to Reveille which came on board to produce. Now that it has landed at the CW, it is being laid off at Warner Bros. TV, which will co-produce with Reveille. Laurin, Davis, Howard T. Owens, Carolyn Bernstein and Todd Cohen are executive producing the project.

Update: Both pilots have now been officially picked up. Previous: Fox has greenlighted one more comedy pilot, with another expected to join it shortly. Both are from Sony TV. The project that has been officially picked up is Iceland, a singe-camera comedy from writer-executive producer Andy Bobrow about a deceased fiance. The project whose pickup is still being worked out is Tagged, from writers-executive producers David Guarascio and Moses Port. The hybrid comedy, which Sony TV is co-producing with Reveille, is a workplace ensemble comedy set at the Los Angeles County's coroner's office that is loosely based on Shiya Robowsky's life. Also executive producing the project are Carolyn Bernstein, Howard Owens, Todd Cohen.

Exclusive: Adult Swim has handed a pilot order to Shredd: The Jon Johnsonsen Story, a live-action comedy starring Jason Lee from Reveille and Jack Black's Electric Dynamite. Luke Watson and Jason Lee co-wrote the script for the 11-minute pilot, with Lee also set to direct. Shredd centers on Jon Johnsonsen (Lee) who, as a 17-year-old superstar skateboarder in 1985 was on top of the world until a risky skate move landed him in a coma for 25 years. When he wakes up, he is 42 but stuck in the 1980s mindset of a teenage boy and must cope with all the changes in his life. Lee and Watson are executive producing the project alongside Carolyn Bernstein, Todd Cohen and Howard T. Owens of Reveille and Black, Ben Cooley and Priyanka Mattoo of Electric Dynamite. This marks the first pilot pickup to come out of Electric Dynamite’s two-year TV overall deal with Reveille.

Nickelodeon is packing up its trunk for sleep away camp. Nickelodeon commissions E1 Entertainment and Reveille to co-produce its new comedy pilot (1x30), Summer Camp, created by writer Peter Barsocchini (High School Musical) and directed by Lev L. Spiro (Wizards of Waverly Place, Jonas, Weeds, Everybody Hates Chris, Arrested Development and many others). The pilot is scheduled to begin production this month in Malibu. Summer Camp is Executive Produced by Barsocchini, Frank Saperstein, Svp/Kids and Animation, E1, and John Morayniss of E1 Entertainment, and Reveille's Carolyn Bernstein and Todd Cohen, as well as Laurence Mark of Laurence Mark Productions who is also producing. Co-Executive Producer is David Blackman of Laurence Mark Productions. E1 Entertainment will handle the worldwide distribution for the property.

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Nickelodeon is going to "Summer Camp."

The network has greenlighted production on a half-hour pilot from Peter Barsocchini, writer of the "High School Musical" movies.

E1 Entertainment and Reveille are co-producing the single-camera pilot set at a sleep-away camp, with veteran TV helmer Lev L. Spiro on board to direct.

"Summer camp, in reality, is an iconic experience for kids, and the show is an opportunity to present the comedy and emotion kids experience when they are away from home for the first time," Peter Barsocchini said. "Our slogan is, 'Camp is why kids invented summer.' "

Production on the pilot is slated to begin in Malibu this month.

"Summer camp is an American tradition, and Peter has captured this rite of passage in a fun family comedy that's perfect for Nickelodeon," said Reveille executive producer of scripted programs Carolyn Bernstein, who is exec producing the pilot with Barsocchini; Frank Saperstein...