Tribeca gets two-year deal at CBS

George, Martin, Ridley writing NYC-set pilots

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Rosenthal

De Niro

George

Tribeca Prods. partners Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro have made a two-year deal with CBS Television Studios. They are working on a trio of New York-centric projects for CBS and its sister networks, two of which have taken root under the CBS Television Studios pact.

Terry George has been signed to create and write "Securing the City," an hour-long pilot that will be based on the Christopher Dickey book "Securing the City: Inside America's Best Counterterror Force."

The ensemble drama will chronicle the lives of the NYPD's elite counterterrorism and intelligence division,

whose mission is to prevent terrorist activity by infiltrating and capturing perpetrators before they strike.

The pilot will be exec produced by De Niro, Rosenthal and George, who most recently wrote and directed "Hotel Rwanda" and "Reservation Road." George previously co-created the CBS drama "The District."

The second pilot under the studio deal is "Felony Review," an ensemble drama created and written by Julie Martin for the CW that focuses on a group of twentysomething assistant district attorneys from New York who prepare to make the jump to prosecuting felonies. De Niro and Rosenthal will be exec producers with Martin.

Tribeca Prods. also has set up a deal with Showtime Networks for "Alphaville," a John Ridley-scripted ensemble drama that chronicles Alphabet City's gritty and tumultuous past before it became the gentrified East Village. Series is set in the '80s, and will re-create the neighborhood's racial tension and police mistrust amid its eclectic mix of struggling artists, musicians and celebrities. De Niro and Rosenthal will be exec producers with Spike Lee and Ridley.

The latter series hasn't been placed with the studio.

Tribeca's smallscreen surge is being spearheaded by execs Meghan Lyvers and Brandon Brito, who will be co-producers on all three pilots.

Tribeca also is producing "Little Fockers," the third installment of the "Meet the Parents" franchise for Universal Pictures, which began production last month. Tribeca Film Festival chief Geoff Gilmore and Rosenthal just helped inaugurate the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in Qatar's capital city.