Small Screen: Isha Mehta And Tanya Saracho Are Among Those With Network Overall Deals
Tanya Saracho - Olivera / Stringer
Broadcast: Comedian Sarah Cooper, who recently rose to fame for her lip-synced TikTok videos impersonating President Trump, is developing a single-camera comedy for CBS. Based on her book, How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings, the prospective series centers on three professional women who work in a male-dominated company as they strive to uplift each other through the gender biases that affect their careers and personal lives. Cooper will co-write the series with Cindy Chupack (who will also act as showrunner), with an executive production team composed of Cooper and Chupack along with PatMa Productions’ Nina Tassler, Denise Di Novi and Joan Boorstein.
Disney Television’s ABC Signature continues to add to its talent roster, signing a first-look deal with Tyra Banks and bringing in Susan Lewis to act as the studio’s Senior Vice President and Head of Drama Development. Banks’ deal will see her producing scripted content with ABC Signature as well as unscripted content for ABC Entertainment through her Bankable Productions. Bankable’s Executive Vice President, Hayley Lozitsky, and its Director of Development and in-house writer, Sabrina Besla, will work alongside Banks in developing upcoming programming. Lewis comes to ABC Signature after having previously acted as the Senior Vice President of Original Programming at Starz Entertainment since 2017, where she oversaw hit series such as Dublin Murders, Hightown and P-Valley. Prior to her tenure at Starz, Lewis oversaw all creative development and production as a producer for Alicia Keys’ AK Worldwide and acted as MTV Films’ Vice President of Development. ABC Signature’s Tracey Underwood called Lewis “an undeniable choice…to spearhead drama and be a vital decisionmaker,” noting in specific her “impeccable taste and collaborative spirit.”
Tanya Saracho has signed an overall deal with NBCUniversal’s Universal Content Productions to develop and create original television programming as well as podcasts for UCP Audio extension; in addition, Saracho will act as the head for a new program aimed at boosting Latinx voices. Saracho called the deal “a vital opportunity to keep amplifying the voices and stories,” from “intersectional Latinx voices.” Recently, Saracho created Starz’ Vida, an LGBTQ-focused drama that wrapped up earlier this year after three seasons.
Noel Clark is set to star in Viewpoint, an upcoming crime drama from Harry Bradbeer for ITV. Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Clark stars as DC Martin King, a surveillance detective whose observation post in single mother Zoe Sterling’s (Alexandra Roach) home provides him with a view of Manchester’s Westbury Square, and particularly into the shared home of missing schoolteacher Gemma Hillman (Amy Wren) and her boyfriend, Greg Sullivan (Fehinti Balogun). Also starring in the upcoming series are Catherine Tyldesley, Bronagh Waugh, Sarah Niles, Shannon Murray, Phil Davis, Ian Puleston-Davies, Dominic Allburn, Marcus Garvey, Carlyss Peer and Erin Shanagher. Produced by Tiger Aspect Productions with distribution from Banijay Rights and co-created by Ed Whitmore, the new series is executive produced by Tiger Aspect’s Lucy Bedford and produced by Clare Shepherd, with direction from Ashley Way. Viewpoint has already begun filming in Manchester, making it ITV’s first series to do so since shutting down production due to the pandemic.
Isha Mehta - Miramax
Cable: Disney Channel has named Theresa Helmer as its Executive Director, Integrated Content Strategy and Development, the first for this newly created position. Her promotion will see her work with multiple departments- including Disney Channel’s Consumer Insights, Movies and Series Development, Current Series, the Educational Resource Group and Disney Television Animation’s Creative Content and Diversity division- to increase racial and cultural diversity and inclusion in global programming for kids between 2- and 14-years old. Helmer has been with Disney since 2014, starting as a social media analyst for its Parks and Resorts division, and most recently acting as the Director of Social Media Strategy within Disney Channel’s marketing team.
HBO has released the second list of names attached to its upcoming adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. Joining the already star-studded production are Jharrel Jerome, Wendell Pierce, Yara Shahidi, Mj Rodriguez, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Janet Mock, Jason Moran, Kendrick Sampson and Michelle Wilson, with more casting announcements still expected to be made.
Amanda Klein and Isha Mehta are joining Miramax TV’s executive team, with Klein becoming its new Senior Vice President of Television and Mehta as the Vice President of International Business Affairs for its television department. In their new roles, both executives will join in Miramax TV’s international expansion efforts with a focus on original programming and on Miramax’s current content library. Klein joined Miramax this past July after serving as a senior development executive for Kaplan Entertainment, where she focused on developing and producing television for a global audience. Coming from London’s Nordic Entertainment Group, Mehta worked as the Head of Co-Production, Commercial Affairs, leading negotiations and forming partnerships with distributors and producers for original scripted content.
Coming off her most recent success with her Emmy-nominated HBO sketch series A Black Lady Sketch Show, creator Robin Thede recently signed an exclusive multiyear overall deal with Warner Bros. TV Group to develop content for basic and premium cable, broadcast and streaming. The creator’s upcoming projects include Season 2 of A Black Lady Sketch Show, the film Fashionably Black- a co-production between HBO Max and Michael B. Jordan’s production banner, Outlier Society- and Hulu’s Bad Hair, which is scheduled for an October 23 premier date. With this deal, Thede joins Greg Berlani, J.J. Abrams, Ava DuVernay, John Wells and Matthew A. Cherry in a powerhouse talent lineup for Warner.
Streaming: Sophie Okonedo and Kae Alexander are set to star in Amazon’s adaptation of The Wheel of Time, joining a cast that includes Kate Fleetwood, Peter Franzen, Clare Perkins and Rosamund Pike. Based on the fantasy novel series by Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time is set in a world where magic exists, but only for exclusive use by a select group of powerful women. The series focuses on the journey of Moiraine (Pike) and the five men and women she embarks on her quest with- including the prophesized Dragon Reborn- in a story where the fate of humanity is at stake. Okonedo will star in a recurring role as Amyrlin Seat Siuan Sanche and Alexander will take on the fan-favorite role of Min Farshaw. Produced by Pike and adapted for television by Rafe Judkins- who will also act as showrunner- The Wheel of Time is executive produced by Judkins, Darren Lemke, Marigo Kehoe and Uta Brisewitz- who will also direct the first two episodes- along with Red Eagle Entertainment’s Larry Mondragon and Rick Selvage and Radar Pictures’ Ted Field and Mike Weber. Harriet McDougal and Brandon Sanderson will act as consulting producers in a co-production between Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television.
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett has been confirmed as a series regular for the upcoming HBO Max series Generation, and will star alongside Nathanya Alexander, Chloe East, Nava Mau, Lukita Maxwell, Haley Sanchez, Uly Schlesinger, Sam Trammell, Chase Sui Wonders, Justice Smith and Martha Plimpton. Stewart-Jarrett stars as school guidance counselor Sam in a series about high schoolers from a conservative community who are beginning to explore their sexuality, coming to terms with how their individual sexual revelations affect their preexisting beliefs on life, love and family. Created by the daughter-father team of Zelda and Daniel Barnz, with the latter Barnz also directing, and produced by Lena Dunham and Marissa Diaz for Good Thing Going Productions, Generation’s executive producers include Good Thing Going’s Dunham; Daniel, Ben and Zelda Barnz of We’re Not Brothers Productions; Sharr White and John Melfi.
Peacock has acquired the United States streaming rights to the critically acclaimed BBC drama series Noughts + Crosses, which originally premiered in the United Kingdom this past March. Based on the novel by Malorie Blackman, the series is set in a fictionalized version of present-day London (referred to in the series as “Albion”) in an alternate world in which Europe was colonized by Africa (“Aprica”), reversing the historical roles of post-slavery segregation in a modern setting. Amidst the separation between the ruling-class Black “Crosses” and the oppressed white “Noughts” is the love story of a Nought named Callum McGregor (Jack Rowan) and Sephy Hadley (Masali Baduza), a Cross whose father is the Home Secretary of Albion, played by Paterson Joseph. In addition to Rowan, Baduza and Joseph, the series features a cast of Helen Baxendale, Ian Hart, Josh Dylan, Bonnie Mbuli, Kike Brimah, Shaun Dingwall, Jonathan Ajayi, Rakie Ayola and Stormzy. Directed by Julian Holmes and Koby Adom, the series was adapted for television by Lydia Adetunji, Nathaniel Price and Rachel Le-Lahay in a co-production from Mammoth Screen, Participant and Roc Nation. Noughts + Crosses will be available on Peacock for American streamers starting September 4.
UMC has ordered For the Love of Jason, a series about dating during one’s thirties. Unlike most series about singles in their thirties, which typically center on single women, For the Love of Jason focuses on a single man named Jason (Trell Woodberry). Jason is successful in practically every aspect of his life, but after ending a long-term relationship while the rest of his friends are starting to settle down, he must brave the dating world once again as he tries to make the transition from bachelor to settled man once and for all. Produced by Woodberry through his T. Wood Productions with Flower Ave Films’ Deshawn Plair and Sade Oyinade, the upcoming series features a cast that also includes Jackée Harry, Kareem Grimes, B.J. Britt, Brely Evans and Laila Odom. Directed by Michael Vaughn Hernandez, the series is set to premier in November.
