Lions Gate marks slate

Co. to focus on event longform projects, scripted skeins

By DENISE MARTIN

Beggs

With a focus on scripted drama and longform projects, Lions Gate Television unveiled its development slate, which included orders from Fox, UPN, the WB and several cablers.

Unit produces Lifetime's "1-800-Missing" and will start production on season three of "The Dead Zone" in December.

Lions Gate TV topper Kevin Beggs said the company will concentrate on producing event longform projects and scripted series for cable and the weblets, citing more opportunity and longer life spans for new programs.

"Our profile in the network world is very selective," Beggs said of Lions Gate's limited development slate. "We try to hit 'em where (the other studios) ain't."

Access to Artisan library

He added the company's recent acquisition of Artisan Entertainment gives itaccess to Artisan's large library of titles, a valuable asset for remaking into TV movies and series.

The 5-year-old TV operation accounts for 30% of the overall revenue for Lions Gate Entertainment, and last week reported revenue of $24.9 million, up 40% from the previous year.

Projects in development include:

For Fox, company is developing an hour based on the company's theatrical feature "Confidence," which toplined Ed Burns, Rachel Weisz, Andy Garcia and Dustin Hoffman. Drama will follow a group of hustlers who work together to pull off one heist over an entire season. The Segan Co. will also produce.

'Raintree' for WB

The WB has ordered a script for "Raintree," a contemporary take on "Seabiscuit" from scribe Michael Piller ("The Dead Zone,") about a teenage girl who ends up working with a racehorse (Daily Variety, July 30).

Company also has two script orders from UPN:

"Fly Girls," with Mandalay TV and exec producers Peter Guber, Elizabeth Stephen, and J.F. Lawton, revolves around the stars of the fictitious low-budget sci-fi series "Atomic Honeys" who discover their fictitious powers are real.

"The Point," exec produced by Paul Stupin ("Dawson's Creek") and writer David Maples ("Home Improvement"), is a mix of "The Blair Witch Project" and "Dawson's Creek" set in an upper-class East Coast suburb.

Cable projects in the hopper include "The Coven," a pilot at Lifetime described as "Rosemary's Baby" meets "The Stepford Wives" (Daily Variety, Nov. 18); an ABC Family original movie exec produced by Britney Spears (Daily Variety, Nov. 12); "Dark Network," a six-hour mini for FX (Daily Variety, Sept. 5); and the Sci Fi Channel five-part miniseries "5 Days to Midnight" to be helmed by Michael Watkins ("Las Vegas").