Katie Couric, Stephen King Projects in Development at AMC

By Will Thorne

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Katie Couric, Stephen King and “The Report” director Scott Z. Burns are several of the creatives who are getting into business with AMC.

The network has unveiled an extensive development slate which includes both Studios series being eyed for the company’s Entertainment Group, as well as projects that are being developed with an eye to being sold to other content companies.

The Couric series is inspired by her friendship with Wendy Walker and will chart their rise through broadcast news in the 1980s. While the King series is based on the “Sleeping Beauties” novel he co-wrote with his son Owen King, and the Burns project is a musical dramedy about a family that falls down the ladder of American life.

AMC Networks and AMC Studios president Sarah Barnett announced the slate at the network’s Television Critics’ Association press tour day. 

“We’re looking for highly original visions and voices as we think about how AMC Networks evolves. The projects in development both on the Entertainment Group side and at AMC Studios all embrace people with singular and surprising points of view,” said Barnett. “We will prioritize creative risk-taking that doesn’t rely on the shock and awe of sheer size, but instead delivers the surprise and delight of brilliant storytelling in our quest to stand out with human-scaled brands in this dynamic and changing content environment. There is so much phenomenal talent to discover and so many new, different, electric stories to be told.”

Read on for the full slate:

AMC Networks Entertainment Group Projects

MORE AS THIS STORY DEVELOPS

Inspired by the
friendship between and Wendy Walker, two young women begin their careers in broadcast news in the ‘80s, charting the incredible moments in history that they were able to be a part of.

Couric and Walker will produce. 

NATIONAL ANTHEM

A musical dramedy following the Nordstrom Family who, after falling down the ladder of American life, need to figure out what actually makes life worth living. 

Writer Scott Z. Burns,
executive producer Mark Johnson,
music and lyrics by Craig Finn,
music produced by T Bone Burnett.
 

SLEEPING BEAUTIES

In a small Appalachian town, there’s a strange mystical occurrence that causes all the women to fall asleep, leaving the men to try and rescue them. But do the women want to be rescued? 

Based on the novel by Owen and . Executive Producers Michael Sugar and Ashley Zalta for Sugar23, Owen King and Stephen King.

BUNNY
 

A lonely student is drawn into a mysterious clique of girls called The Bunnies and begins to partake in their strange off-campus ritual – conjuring boys from rabbits, where the good ones stay as romantic partners and the bad ones are mercilessly axed.

B
y Megan Mostyn Brown
 based on the novel by Mona Awad.

PANTHEON

In this animated drama set in a world where uploaded consciousness is not just science fiction, a young woman begins receiving messages from an unknown number that claims to be her deceased father. Trying to uncover the truth, she stumbles upon a larger conspiracy involving the singularity.

This project is a
one-hour series written by Craig Silverstein
 based on short stories
by Ken Liu, award-winning sci-fi writer
. Silverstein is an executive producer.
Titmouse will serve as the animation production company and is also producing a 10-minute animated short.  

NIGERIA 2099

Set in a futuristic world, NIGERIA 2099 tells the story of Sgt. Charles Opkara, a local police officer in a poor district of Lagos. Assigned to protect a visiting American businessman staking out his district, Sgt. Charles begins to unravel a global conspiracy over depleting resources.

Ahmadu Garba
will serve as writer. Mo Abudu and Heidi Uys of Nigeria’s EbonyLife TV will executive produce.   

SILVERBIRD

An Army veteran who needs to disappear in a hurry falls in with a ragtag collective of mercenaries on their way to Africa with a dangerous and unusual mission: to protect the most iconic animals on earth by entering into armed conflict with poachers. This provocative, fast-paced, one-hour drama follows the superhighways of wildlife trafficking, a $10 billion-per-year, global enterprise of kingpins, corrupt governments and criminal syndicates, all of them determined to cling to power and money at any cost.

A
ward-winning journalist and screenwriter Scott Gold
will serve as writer and executive producer.
Harriet Gavshon and Tim Greene of South Africa’s Quizzical Pictures will executive produce.

AMC Studios Projects for Potential Sale

THE SPARROW

In the near future, humans on Earth receive their first evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life when a radio telescope picks up a strange signal, sounding like exquisite music, from a distant planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible expedition, the Jesuit leadership quietly organizes an eight-person scientific mission of its own, comprised of a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. What they find is a world so far beyond comprehension that it will lead them to challenge the very notions of humanity and faith itself.

Based on the science-fiction novel by Mary Doria Russell, Executive Producer Mark Johnson.
Johan Renck as director and executive producer.

FATES AND FURIES

An examination of a marriage and creative partnership, Fates and Furies explores two perspectives of a marriage, from the husband and the wife, and the truths and secrets that evolve over 24 years.

Based on the novel by Lauren Groff, “
Fates and Furies”
is written and produced by Eliza Clark
and Zack Whedon.

I RUN HOT 

I Run Hot follows the unlikely friendship between Eliot, a gay curmudgeon who never quite fit in with the community, and Colton, a famous #instagay who can’t help but exemplify it.

From executive producer, writer and star Eliot Glazer,
and director and executive producer Ilana Glazer.

WORK IT OUT

It’s 1994 in Myrtle Beach, and Kayla Tate — a long-time Jane Fonda devotee and aspiring aerobics superstar — will do whatever it takes to establish her workout empire in this darkly comedic half-hour. 

From executive producer and writer Becca Gleason,
executive producer and star Anna Camp,
executive producer and director Michael Showalter
of Semi-Formal Productions, and executive producer Jordana Mollick
of Semi-Formal Productions