E! Turns Focus Toward Scripted Projects

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK: The E! Entertainment network has a slate of new scripted projects in development, including one from Gossip Girl writer Natalie Krinsky inspired by the books Dorothy and The Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy will center on a girl from Kansas City who falls for a man and moves with him to Emerald City. The project comes from Warner Horizon Television.

Also on the scripted slate is Amy Devlin Mysteries, based on the graphic novel of the same name. CBS Studios is behind the show. Based on the best-selling novel by Carol Wolper, Anne of Hollywood brings the story of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII into the present day of Hollywood. John Wells Productions and Warner Horizon Television are on board the project.

From Fox Television Studios comes Fascination Street, which looks at the relationship between two brothers who are trying to make their band a success amidst the disappearance of the lead singer. The 400 is about the rise of the Vanderbilt dynasty, set within the New York social scene in the 1890s. Fox TV Studios is also behind this series, which is from Brothers & Sisters writer Emily Whitesell and executive producer Anna Thomopoulous of The Borgias.

Juror #9, a Warner Horizon production, is about a man who accidentally kills a woman who’s been blackmailing him for a slightly shady business deal. He frames a man, who turns out to be the scion of a business empire. King David, from Universal Cable Productions, is about a self-made billionaire with a penchant for hooking up with lobbyists in the nation’s capital. The series is from

writer David Gerken (West Wing), a former D.C. lobbyist who has worked for Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. George Mitchell. 

Also on the slate are an untitled assistant project from Fox Television Studios about a group of executive assistants who are seemingly loyal minions to their high-powered bosses, yet are secretly aspiring to work their way up the corporate ladder. Upstarts, a Universal Cable project, has Kevin Spacey and Michael De Luca (The Social Network) attached as executive producers. The story is about three big dreamers who are trying to grab their share of the wealth and glory of Silicon Valley’s digital gold rush in the late 1990s.

"We are extremely pleased with the projects currently in development as we extend E! into the scripted space,” said Lisa Berger, the president of entertainment programming at E! “Our strategy is centered on telling compelling stories that reflect pop culture relevancy in unique and irreverent ways, and these scripted series will complement E!’s already diverse mix of reality, topical, news and comedy franchises. The response from the creative community has been incredibly positive and we are excited to be in business with such high-caliber writers, producers and directors.”