Upfront 2013: IFC
Get ready to laugh out loud. IFC has announced it is developing 11 new comedy projects for 2014 series consideration. “This latest development slate represents IFC’s continued commitment to uncovering and creating comedy shows that are bold, smart and unconventional,” said Debbie DeMontreux, IFC’s senior vice president of original programming. “We set ourselves apart by tapping into all facets of entertainment to find fresh ideas for comedic series, and by working with well known and up-and-coming talent that share our ‘slightly off’ sensibility.”Here’s a look at what’s coming up.
Pilots ordered:
- Comedy Timms Industrial Piping (wt) is shot in stop-motion animation with baby dolls repurposed as adult characters and modeled on 1980s primetime soaps like Dynasty. The show is written by Steven Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Pursuit of Happyness), and created by Conrad, Jeff Dieter and Tom Glynn. The show is produced by Conrad’s Chicago-based company, Elephant Pictures. Currently in production, the pilot features the voice talents of: Maria Bamford, Elizabeth Banks, Lance Barber, Giancarlo Esposito, Ed Flynn, Kathryn Hahn, Nick Kroll, Matt Levin, John Lithgow, Kumail Nanjiani, Mike O’Connell, and Seann William Scott.
- Produced by Abominable Pictures’ Jonathan Stern, Garfunkel & Oates follows the aspirations and misadventures of female comedy-folk duo Riki Lindhome (Garfunkel) and Kate Micucci (Oates). The show begins production in May.
- Two newly single guys who travel around the world looking for love, and in the process form an invaluable friendship in Internation Plan. The pilot, produced by @radical.media, begins production in mid-April in Stockholm.
Scripts Ordered:
- American Storage tells the tale of what happens when an employee at a storage facility befriends a guy he finds living in one of the units. The project is based on the short film of the same name co-written by Andrew Jay Cohen (Townies) and Brendan O’Brien (Townies).
- Cult Following follows two friends who jointly run a health food restaurant and inadvertently become cult leaders. The pilot script is co-written by and co-stars Matt Besser (co-founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade, Freak Dance) and Rich Fulcher (The Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box).
- In God’s Work actor/comedian Kyle Dunnigan plays multiple characters living in a community that surrounds a Connecticut church.The pilot script is co-written by Kyle Dunnigan and Tim Long (The Simpsons).
- Part Terminator, part X-Files, part Mork and Mindy, the supernatural buddy comedy Jetpackula follows a washed up comic book illustrator, who befriends a vampire from the future. Jetpackula is written and created by Rob Schrab (The Sarah Silverman Program).
- Stupid Life is based on comedian Chris Gethard’s recent autobiographical book of the same name. Tom Scharpling (The Best Show on WFMU, Monk) is series executive producer and co-creator. Gethard and Scharpling are co-writing the pilot script.
- Trigger Men follows two friends and former hit men as one tries to clean up his act and the other pulls him deeper into trouble. Michael Davis (Shoot ‘Em Up) is writing a script for the action/buddy comedy.
- Created and written by Megan Mullally and newcomer Tina Kapousis, Two Idiots centers on a pair of odd women raised in an old world Beverly Hills hotel.
IFC, in partnership with the New York Television Festival awarded a script deal and the 2012 “Out of the Box” prize to Damian Lanigan of Brooklyn, NY. The project, Wasps, centers on a dysfunctional Main Line Philadelphia family who have squandered away their money and are left with nothing but the shared ownership of an enormous family mansion.
