Fox had already indicated their intention to get back into the limited and mini-series game with the creation of a Longform Division housed out of FX Productions. FX & Fox teamed together for the creation of that division and hired former HBO executive Gina Balian to run it. To that end, Fox announced at their TCA panel today that they had inked development deals with M. Night Shyamalan & Bruce C. McKenna for two “large scale drama projects.”
“With top-notch auspices and feature-quality production plans, Wayward Pines and Blood Brothers represent exactly the kind of high-impact, 10- to 12-part events we set out to develop when we entered the limited series business,” said Kevin Reilly, Chairman of Entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company. “These two series are the first of many big ideas, big names and big talent that you can anticipate will be on our air in the next 12-24 months.”
Based on Blake Crouch’s best-selling novel Pines, Wayward Pines comes from M. Night Shyamalan follows US Secret Service agent Ethan Burke as he arrives in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, on a mission to find two missing federal agents. But instead of answers, Ethan’s investigation only turns up more questions. What’s wrong with Wayward Pines? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the life he knew, from the husband and father he was, until he must face the terrifying reality that he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive. Based on a spec-script written by Chad Hodge, Wayward Pines is produced by FX Productions with Shyamalan, Hodge, Donald De Line and Ashwin Rajan serving as executive producers.
Written by Bruce C. McKenna, Blood Brothers tells the true story of the West Point Class of 1861. As a bitterly divided country tore itself apart over the issue of slavery, the West Point Brotherhood broke apart. Best friends, bonded in the intense crucible of the Academy, found themselves on opposite sides of a conflict that quickly became the bloodiest in U.S. history. For four violent years, these former comrades fought directly against each other, even as many of them rose from lowly second lieutenants to field generals. Throughout the conflict, however, they never lost their love and esteem for each other, which often resulted in many acts of kindness that stretched across enemy lines. Some died; others were broken by the conflict. But every one of the Brothers was utterly changed by a war that not only redefined America, but which still resonates today. Boardwalk Entertainment Group and Fox Television Studios are producing, the executive producers are Bruce C. McKenna, Gary Randall and Timothy Scott Bogart.
