Wednesday, April 10, 2013

IFC Announces 11 New Comedy Projects Including An '80s-Style Soap Opera Animated Entirely With Baby Dolls

IFC today announced it is developing 11 new comedy projects for 2014 series consideration. Among them, the network has ordered three pilots and eight scripts, in line with the network's "slightly off" sensibility that attracts a male skewing, adults 18-49 audience. The pilots include TIMMS INDUSTRIAL PIPING, a DYNASTY-inspired series about the residents of Timms Valley, Wisconsin, dealing with the disappearance of the founder and CEO of the town's biggest employer. The series will be stop-motion animated using baby dolls.

Commented Debbie DeMontreux, IFC's senior vice president of original programming: "This latest development slate represents IFC's continued commitment to uncovering and creating comedy shows that are bold, smart and unconventional. We set ourselves apart by tapping into all facets of entertainment to find fresh ideas for comedic series, and by working with well known and up-and-coming talent that share our 'slightly off' sensibility."

IFC has ordered the following Pilots:

TIMMS INDUSTRIAL PIPING (Pilot; working title)
A scripted comedy set in the fictional town of Timms Valley, Wisconsin, where the lives and livelihoods of its citizens are intertwined with the fate of the town's biggest employer, Timms Industrial Piping. When the company's founder and CEO goes missing in a plane crash, the lives of the characters are turned upside down. Shot in stop-motion animation with baby dolls repurposed as an array of adult characters, and modeled on 1980s primetime soaps like DYNASTY, the show is written by Steven Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Pursuit of Happyness), and created by Conrad, Jeff Dieter and Tom Glynn. The show is produced by Conrad's Chicago-based company, Elephant Pictures. Currently in production, the pilot features the voice talents of: Maria Bamford, Elizabeth Banks, Lance Barber, Giancarlo Esposito, Ed Flynn, Kathryn Hahn, Nick Kroll, Matt Levin, John Lithgow, Kumail Nanjiani, Mike O'Connell, and Seann William Scott.

GARFUNKEL & OATES (Pilot)
The pilot is a scripted comedy about the female comedy-folk duo Riki Lindhome (Garfunkel) and Kate Micucci (Oates). The pilot centers on the aspirations and misadventures of this odd couple, and will spotlight the personal and professional lives of the duo whose career choices - singing satirical and sometimes dirty songs - leaves them with little in common with their peers, and no one but each other to turn to for support and understanding. The pilot, produced by Abominable Pictures' Jonathan Stern (Children's Hospital, NTSF:SD:SUV::) will begin production in May in Los Angeles.

INTERNATIONAL PLAN (Pilot)
A scripted comedy about two newly single guys who travel around the world looking for love, and in the process form an invaluable friendship. The project is based on the writers' true story: Michael Blieden (Up All Night, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) and Eric Ledgin (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon). The pilot, produced by @radical.media begins production in mid-April in Stockholm.

IFC has ordered the following scripts:

AMERICAN STORAGE
What happens when an employee at a storage facility befriends a guy he finds living in one of the units? The project is based on the short film of the same name co-written by Andrew Jay Cohen (Townies) and Brendan O'Brien (Townies).

CULT FOLLOWING
Cult Following follows two friends who jointly run a health food restaurant and inadvertently become cult leaders. The pilot script is co-written by and co-stars Matt Besser (co-founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade, Freak Dance) and Rich Fulcher (The Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box).

GOD'S WORK
Actor/comedian Kyle Dunnigan (Reno 911!, Comedy Central Presents, co-host Professor Blastoff podcast) plays multiple characters living in a community that surrounds a Connecticut church. The pilot script is co-written by Kyle Dunnigan and Tim Long (The Simpsons).

JETPACKULA
Part Terminator, part X-Files, part Mork and Mindy, the supernatural buddy comedy Jetpackula is written and created by Rob Schrab (The Sarah Silverman Program) and follows a washed up comic book illustrator as he befriends a vampire from the future.

STUPID LIFE
Previously announced as A Bad Idea I'm About to Do, this show's script is based on comedian Chris Gethard's (The Chris Gethard Show, The Other Guys, This American Life) recent autobiographical book of the same name. Tom Scharpling (The Best Show on WFMU, Monk) is series executive producer and co-creator. Gethard and Scharpling are co-writing the pilot script.

TRIGGER MEN
Michael Davis (Shoot 'Em Up) is writing a script for the action/buddy comedy Trigger Men. Based on a graphic novel, the story follows two friends and former hit men as one tries to clean up his act and the other pulls him deeper into trouble.

TWO IDIOTS
Created and written by Megan Mullally (Will & Grace, Party Down, Children's Hospital) and newcomer Tina Kapousis, Two Idiots follows a pair of odd women raised in an old world Beverly Hills hotel whose simplest everyday undertakings fly absurdly off the rails, with their beleaguered butler and a remedial shared boyfriend in tow.

WASPS
IFC, in partnership with the New York Television Festival, awarded a script deal and the 2012 "Out of the Box" prize to Damian Lanigan of Brooklyn, NY. The project centers on a dysfunctional Main Line Philadelphia family who find that they have squandered away their money and are left with nothing but the shared ownership of an enormous family mansion.

No comments:

Post a Comment