Bratt
Going for its first scripted original series in more than six years, A&E has ordered 13 episodes of “The Cleaner,” starring Benjamin Bratt.
Bob DeBitetto, exec VP and general manager of A&E, says that by focusing on “a guy who devotes his life to saving people suffering from an addiction,” the series “is a little bit different from the usual. It’s not a crime show, or a lawyer show, or a hospital show, and it’s inspired by the life of a real character.”
Scripted series is the first to come out of the refurbished cable division of CBS Paramount Network TV under Bela Bajaria, who took over as senior VP of cable programming and movies a year ago. The series starts production within the month, and A&E will schedule it in the summer.
CBS Paramount and A&E declined to discuss deal points, but the series, to be shot in Los Angeles, will cost about $2.1 million an episode to produce on an A&E license fee of $1.9 million or so.
A&E is evaluating two other completed pilots for possible scripted series: “The Beast,” from Sony Pictures TV, starring Patrick Swayze as an unorthodox FBI undercover man; and “Under,” from Fox TV Studios, with Henry Thomas as a reformed criminal who becomes a New York cop but finds his past coming back to mess up his new life.
A third project, “Danny Fricke,” starring Connie Nielsen as a tough female detective who has to put up with sexism from her male colleagues as she investigates big cases, is expected to go to production as a pilot shortly. It comes from Sony Pictures TV.
The creators of “Cleaner” are Jonathan Prince and Robert Munic. Prince is co-exec producer with Jay Silverman and Warren Boyd. David Semel directed the pilot.
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