New Dramas & First Unscripted Comedy Part of AMC’s Development Slate

NEW YORK: AMC has revealed its latest development slate, which includes several dramas, an expansion into unscripted programming and its first scripted comedy.

The network has given the go-ahead to a pilot of We Hate Paul Revere, exec produced and starring Ethan Sandler and Adrian Wenner. The series tells the story of two brothers struggling to find recognition in the shadow of history in Colonial Boston. The comedy is set to shoot in Q3 for consideration next year.

Other comedies in development include an untitled John Leguizamo project; No Money Down, from The Daily Show’s Wyatt Cenac; Random Acts, about contract-killer women in their early 30s; and Sober Buddies, from comedy team Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

Several partnerships have also been announced for drama fare, with the network and Chris Carter (The X Files) collaborating on the conspiracy thriller Area 51. Other highlights include the dark comedic tale Police State; the political thriller Kingmakers, co-produced with Endemol Studios; the Civil-Rights-era-set Bombingham, exec produced by Alexander Woo and Aaron Kaplan; The Sparrow, about a Jesuit-led mission to make first contact with aliens; the Sony Picture Television co-prod Jerry’s World; and Paradise Lost, from exec producer Amy Lippman. All show names are working titles

As part of its first-look deal with Ridley Scott’s outfit Scott Free, AMC optioned a biography of rocket scientist Jim Parson for a project to be exec produced by Scott and David Zucker. Other deals with Scott Free include the previously announced pilot for Galyntine, which is in pre-production, and the previously announced development project Raiders. John McNamara has joined the Raiders team as pilot script supervising and exec producer.

Meanwhile, the network’s overall deal with Stacey Sher and Michael Shamberg’s Double Feature Films resulted in Outer Darkness, a project in development about exorcism in a Midwestern town.

The channel has also optioned two books for scripted drama series development: Somewhere East of Life, by Brian Aldiss, and Silent History, a serialized, exploratory novel for iPad and iPhone.

AMC’s expansion into unscripted development includes an untitled wrestling project with Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan; the docu-soap Bronx Pop, from Red Hot Poker Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television; and Prison Redemption, a docuseries from Custom Redtail Partners. All show names are working titles. The network is also bringing back the unscripted series Comic Book Men for another season.

“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. Unwavering is our commitment to the eclectic, quality dramatic series that have come to define our brand and to the unconventional unscripted worlds we love to explore. And today we also happily dive head-first into our first-ever scripted comedy pilot,” said Charlie Collier, AMC’s 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. We appreciate their confidence and look forward to working collaboratively to bring their visions to fruition.”

“We’re very excited to continue our growth in original programming over the coming year. Along with some great new dramas, and our growing slate of unscripted series, we’ll be expanding our brand of unexpected and unconventional original programming into scripted comedy. As always, we’ll continue to look for unique creative voices to pair with passionate audiences through stories you’d never expect to see on television,” said Joel Stillerman, AMC’s EVP of original programming, production and digital content. “We’ve got some terrific comedy projects in development, and are thrilled that we’ll be making our first comedy pilot this year. In We Hate Paul Revere, we’ll explore the characters that history forgot. For more than 200 years, Paul Revere has had a pretty good ride. It’s about time someone took him down a peg!”