Dramatic impact in TV - 4 projects land on busy development day

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118024511.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

On another busy day for TV development, "Lost" co-stars Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn scored a pilot order at NBC, while feature scribe David Guggenheim teamed with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci for a Fox drama project.

Also, ABC Studios has inked a deal with Italo TV giant Mediaset for rights to a drama format dubbed "Anti-Mafia Squad." And "Cougar Town" star Courteney Cox is producing a drama script for the Alphabet net.

In the case of Emerson and O'Quinn, NBC gave a pilot order to the untitled drama, which comes from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot shingle and scribes Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec.

Emerson and O'Quinn, better known as "Lost's" Ben Linus and John Locke, are believed to be playing special ops on the project, but details remain sketchy.

Appelbaum and Nemec ("Life on Mars") will exec produce, while Abrams and Bryan Burk are exec producers as well. It's been a good year for Abrams' Warner Bros. TV-based Bad Robot shingle, which also just landed a pilot order from Fox for "Alcatraz" and a project at CBS as well.

At Fox, net gave a put pilot commitment to the Guggenheim/Kurtzman/Orci project, a drama about CIA agents. 20th Century Fox TV and Kurtzman/Orci's K/O Paper Products banner are producing.

Fox made a pre-emptive bid on the drama. Guggenheim will pen the script and serve as co-exec producer. Procedural revolves around CIA agents who are sent in to fix operations gone bad.

Kurtzman, Orci and K/O's Heather Kadin will exec produce.

Guggenheim's recent credits include the upcoming Universal drama "Safehouse," which is about to lense with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, and has sold two other major feature pitches ("Puzzle Palace" at Summit and an untitled nuclear project at 20th).

Then there's ABC's "Anti-Mafia Squad," with Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo are attached as exec producers.

Raul Mateu of Fluent Media is also on board as an exec producer. "Anti-Mafia" is envisioned as a possible summer series for the Alphabet, but it has not yet been formally pitched to the network.

And Cox's Coquette label, which she runs with husband David Arquette, is behind "911 Operators," which is set up at ABC.

Drama is an ensemble procedural drama centering on the stories of 911 operators. For those workers, making life-or-death split-second decisions are all a part of the daily job.

Michael Caleo, whose writing credits include "Rescue Me" and "The Sopranos," is writing the script. Caleo will also exec produce with Cox and Arquette.

"911 Operators" is set up at ABC Studios, where Coquette has a first-look deal. Coquette's previous productions include FX's "Dirt." The shingle is also a producer on "Cougar Town," which stars Cox.