At their energetic upfront event at NYC’s Pier 36, AMC announced a development slate bursting with scripted drama projects, its first-ever scripted comedy, talent deals with the likes of Chris Carter (The X Files), Amy Lippman (Masters of Sex), Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (This is the End) and John Leguizamo (Ice Age), and several new unscripted series.
Some highlights:
A pilot for We Hate Paul Revere got the green light, the net announced, about brothers struggling for recognition in Colonial Boston. “We’ll explore the characters that history forgot,” said Joel Stillerman, AMC’s EVP of original programming, production and digital content. “For more than 200 years, Paul Revere has had a pretty good ride. It’s about time someone took him down a peg!” Shooting takes place in Q3 2014 for consideration for 2015.
Comic Book Men, now in season three, got a renewal; the unscripted series is averaging one million viewers (live + same day) and more than 720,000 A18-49 at midnight on Sunday nights. AMC is expanding its relationship with Kevin Smith to include the development of late night project Hollywood Babble-On, as well as a docuseries featuring super-collector and “Comic Book Men” regular, Robert Bruce.
In development (working titles) are series including Chris Carter conspiracy thriller Area 51; darkly comic Police State; political drama Kingmakers; Bombingham, about buried demons from the Civil Rights era; sci-fi series The Sparrow; family drama Jerry’s World; Paradise Lost, about a group of friends who withdraw from society; Untitled John Leguizamo Project; comedy No Money Down, about a man working in a car dealership; contract killer comedy Random Acts, and recovery (or not) comedy, Sober Buddies.
The net also announced three books optioned for scripted development and three new unscripted shows in development, including Untitled Billy Corrigan Wrestling Project, with the Smashing Pumpkins singer taking over creative direction of a wrestling company.
“2013 was by all meaningful measures the most successful year in AMC’s history and we are building on this momentum in every imaginable way. AMC is introducing more hours of original programming and the most robust, diverse development slate in our network’s history,” said Charlie Collier, AMC president. “It is a personal point of pride for all of us to be working with a roster of such creative, talented and successful professionals, many of whom are entrusting us with personal passion projects.”
