February 22, 2008

News from the Week

Some tidbits I picked up over the week:

  • The great Christine Ebersole will star in a Lifetime pilot Libertyville, written and executive produced by Tom Saunders. Show is set in Libertyville, Ohio, and centers on Susie (Ebersole), a divorced mother fearful of dating whose life is complicated by her lazy 22-year-old daughter and cantankerous father who live with her.
  • Sarah Polley will receive the Claude Jutra Award (an award for a first-time feature director) at the Genies, the Canadian version of the Oscars on March 3.
  • Mandate Pictures has acquired an untitled romantic comedy from "The Devil Wears Prada" scribe Aline Brosh McKenna. Story centers on Maya, a young and highly successful businesswoman who has devoted her life to working for her legendary businessman father. But when Mr. Right enters her life and proposes to her, her father's disapproval of her new fiance leads Maya to devise a mischievous ploy to change Dad's mind. Debra Martin Chase ("The Princess Diaries," "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants") will produce.
  • Helen Hunt will receive the breakthrough director of the year award at ShoWest on April 25th.
  • Edie Falco will star in a Showtime comedy about a New York nurse juggling the frenzied grind of an urban hospital and an equally challenging personal life. Pilot was written by Liz Brixius, Linda Wallem and Evan Dunsky. Wallem and Brixius will serve as executive producers.