USA Bags Disney Blockbuster, Greenlights Pilot

LOS ANGELES, July 14: USA Network has acquired the cable
television rights to Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest from Buena Vista Television, and has greenlit a
pilot that will be executive produced by Lorne Michaels.

The Johnny Depp blockbuster sequel Pirates Of The
Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest raked in more
than $135 million in its opening weekend last week. The deal gives USA the
network window premiere beginning in the fall of 2008. USA is set to present
the basic cable premiere of Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of
The Black Pearl this weekend. Jane Blaney,
USA's senior VP of programming, commented, “USA is a prime destination for
major blockbuster theatricals on television and no film fits our brand better
than Pirates. Johnny Depp as
Captain Jack Sparrow is one of America's most beloved characters and definitely
the world's most unique pirate."

The greenlit pilot, meanwhile, is the 90-minute To Love
and Die in L.A., to be produced by NBC
Universal Television Studio. It is about a woman who thinks that if she can
track down the father she never knew, she’ll be able to solve her dating
problems. When she does meet him and discovers he’s a contract killer, she
believes she may have found her new calling. Jeff Wachtel, USA's executive VP
of original programming noted, "A unique character, a fun franchise, a
distinctive voice—we think this show has all the elements to be another
building block in our successful original programming strategy."