Fox is teaming with writer Adam Barr and producer McG for "Spaced," a comedy project based on the Channel 4 series of the same name from "Shaun of the Dead" masterminds Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright.
Fox has handed out a put pilot commitment to the single-camera "Spaced," which hails from Warner Bros. TV, McG's WBTV-based Wonderland Sound and Vision and Granada America, which owns the format.
The project revolves around two strangers who pose as a married couple in order to rent an apartment.
"Will & Grace" alum Barr is writing the script for "Spaced," which garnered interest from several networks. He is exec producing with Wonderland's McG and Peter Johnson and Granada's Robert Green.
The original series, which ran on Channel 4 for two seasons, was written by Pegg and Jessica Hynes who starred as the fake couple, and was directed by Wright. It earned two BAFTA nominations for best comedy series and an International Emmy nomination.
"Spaced" reunites McG and Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly, who worked together on "Chuck" last season when Reilly was entertainment president at NBC. It also brings McG back to Fox, where he exec produced teen soap "The O.C."
For his seven-year stint on "Grace," Barr won a best comedy series Emmy in 2000 as part of the show's producing team. The past two years, he worked on the WBTV-produced comedy "The New Adventures of Old Christine."
Barr and McG are repped by Endeavor and attorney David Weber. McG is managed by Management 360. Granada is repped by ICM.
"Wonderland's McG and Granada's Robert Green will exec produce alongside Barr; the extent of Pegg's and Wright's involvement is still unclear. But Johnson likens the effort to NBC's adaptation of Ricky Gervais' and Stephen Merchant's "The Office" for the U.S., with Greg Daniels in charge."
The interesting part of that is, no-one has been in touch with me at all. Haven't deigned to get in contact. So my involvement is indeed very unclear.
Would love to know what you all have to say about it.
P.S. I can confirm too, that Simon was never contacted either. I don't really want to get involved at all, but it infuriates me that they would a) never bother to get in touch but still b) splash me and Simon's names all over the trade announcements and infer that we're involved in the same way Ricky & Steve were with The Office.
Also, it's worth stressing that I will not be profiting from this reversion, nor do they have to get permission from me to make it.
is this good or bad news to you, demi?
This is going to fail epiclyWell, lightning can't strike twice, I suppose...
Surely the rise of Nick and Simon would help generate some interest?Eh, nick is still a cult figure not known by many. Pegg is all hollywood now though.
is the US so stunted that they can't just import the "foreign" version and run that?There's only 12 episodes, and each one is so long that they'd probably have to be edited for time. Not worth it for a US TV network.