1/15/2015 Deadline
Charlize Theron’s Denver & Delilah Films has signed a first-look deal with Universal Cable Productions to develop and produce scripted series for NBCUniversal as well as outside networks. With former CBS SVP drama Laverne McKinnon recently coming on board as head of scripted television, Denver & Delilah, in which Theron is partnered with Beth Kono and AJ Dix, has set up projects at NBC, Bravo, Amazon and USA.
The pact reunites Theron with Dawn Olmstead, UCP’s EVP of Development. Two seasons ago, when Denver & Delilah was under a deal at ABC Studios, the company teamed with Olmstead for a modern Hatfields & McCoy drama project, which went to pilot at NBC.
“I had the pleasure of working with Charlize recently and was determined to keep working with her once I joined Universal Cable Productions,” said Olmstead. “Charlize, Beth, and AJ’s taste in material is stellar.”
Here are Denver & Delilah’s projects in development:
– Diblings, a romantic comedy for NBC written by Andrea Abbate (Accidentally on Purpose), about a young, uptight business man and a rebellious purple-haired tattoo artist who will never be together but can’t stand being apart.
– The One, a drama series for Bravo written by Roger Wolfson (The Closer) that explores what it takes to succeed in the cutthroat world of billionaires and CEO’s through the eyes of those who are often overlooked…the assistants. A young woman and struggling street artist is hired to be the assistant to a visionary but enigmatic tech genius. The surprising relationship that forms between them begins to threaten everything the company has built.
– Pandora, an action thriller series for Amazon written by Josh Pate (Legends), about former CIA agent Pandora whose curiosity unleashes worldwide “sleepers” who are the personification of all evils. As she battles to put the evils “back in the box,” she discovers that this was all architected by someone hell bent on vengeance against her. Jonas Pate (Aquarius) is attached to direct.
– Mythos for USA Network, written by Spenser Cohen and produced by Anna Halberg is a high stakes, serialized adventure drama that reveals all we believed to be myth, from the Fountain of Youth to Atlantis, to be closely guarded truth, protected by two opposing orders, each with differing agendas for humanity
– Other projects in development with Universal Cable Productions include a blind script deal with comic book writer Greg Rucka, Get Well Soon written by Erika Cervantes and based on the book by Julie Halpern with Brendan Deneen from MacMillan Publishing attached to produce, and the novel A Life In Men by Gina Frangello.
McKinnon was most recently EVP of Original Programming and Development at EPIX.
http://deadline.com/2015/01/charlize-theron-first-look-deal-universal-cable-prods-1201350881/