Former Will & Grace executive producers/showrunners Tracy Poust and Jon Kinnally have inked a two-year overall deal with Universal Media Studios. Under the pact, said to be seven-figure per year, the two have joined new NBC/UMS anthology dramedy series Love Bites as executive producers. They will serve as writing showrunners on the show, working alongside executive producers/non-writing showrunners Shelley McCrory and director Marc Buckland. Poust and Kinnally replace Love Bites creator Cindy Chupack who recently stepped down from day-to-day showrunner duties because of personal matters but continues to write for the show.
Under their overall deal with UMS, Poust and Kinnally, who are friends with Chupack, originally planned to consult on Love Bites while focusing on development. But when approached for the showrunner gig, the duo, who spent the last 4 years on ABC’s Ugly Betty, decided to go for it, segueing to another hourlong dramedy and reuniting with Betty co-star Becki Newton, who is the star of Love Bites. Newton, who recently announced she is pregnant, presents one of the challenges Love Bites currently faces as her character is virgin in the pilot. Another challenge is the pending departure of Jordana Spiro who was to topline the series with Newton but her character will be phased out because of the actress’ commitment to TBS’ My Boys. Newton’s baby news and Chupack’s exit from the helm of the show led to NBC’s decision to pull Love Bites from the fall schedule, where it was to launch in the Thursday 10 PM slot, and push production on the show by a few weeks. Poust and Kinnally, known for their story-breaking skills, will use the time to work on a new direction for the anthology series in light of the recent developments.
The deal brings Poust and Kinnally back to NBC and UMS where they spent 8 years working on Will & Grace. NBC/UMS' president of primetime entertainment Angela Bromstad, who oversaw UMS (then NBC Studios) during the second half of Will & Grace’s run, called the duo “perfect for (the Love Bites) job." “Not only do they bring intelligence, passion and great experience, but they are one of the funniest writing duos working in television today,” said. “This is great news for an incredibly promising new show."
Long-time friends Kinnally and Poust first began to work together in the mid-1990s in New York when they appeared in a live, weekly soap opera show at an East Village club. They started writing some of their own material and soon formed a small comedy sketch group. In 1997, they reunited in Los Angeles where they worked odd jobs while doing sketch comedy at the Arcade Theater and writing sitcom spec scripts. In 1998, one of their specs found its way to David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, creators of then-newly picked up series Will & Grace. Kinnally and Poust – a gay man and a straight woman in real life, just like the title characters on the NBC sitcom – were offered staff writing jobs and went on to work on Will & Grace for the show’s entire 8-year run, rising to executive producers/showrunners on the show’s final two seasons. The two wrote the fifth episode of Will & Grace's first season, the first episode not written by creators Kohan and Mutchnick, as well as the famous A Chorus Lie episode starring Matt Damon as Jack's heterosexual rival, pretending to be gay to vie for a spot in the Manhattan Gay Men's Chorus.
Following the end of Will & Grace, Kinnally and Poust inked an overall deal with ABC Studios. After a brief stint on the studios’ single-camera ABC comedy In Case of Emergency, the two joined ABC Studios' then-freshman dramedy Ugly Betty, on which they worked for the past 4 years, first as co-executive producers and then as executive producers. Kinnally and Poust are repped by WME and attorney Ken Richman.
Showing posts with label Love Bites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love Bites. Show all posts
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Tracy Poust and Jon Kinnally Ink UMS Deal, Join 'Love Bites' As Writing Showrunners
Thursday, July 1, 2010
NBC Fall Update: 'Love Bites' Out, 'Apprentice' In As 'Bites' Production Pushed
NBC is making a scheduling change for fall, with a non-celebrity edition of The Apprentice replacing new anthology dramedy series Love Bites.
Production on Love Bites is being pushed by a few weeks to accommodate two new developments: the pregnancy of star Becki Newton and creator/executive producer Cindy Chupack's decision to step down from day-to-day showtunner duties as she is dealing with personal matters. Chupack will continue on the series as a writer and is actively working on upcoming scripts. The show's producers are still figuring out whether Newton's pregnancy will be incorporated on the show. In the pilot, Newton's character is described as a virgin.
The anthology dramedy suffered a casting setback recently when its other star, Jordana Spiro, had to be released because of her commitment to TBS’ My Boys. Spiro will exit after 3 episodes. There are no immediate plans for her to be replaced, though Love Bites is adding another regular, Constance Zimmer, who will play Greg Grunberg's wife. Grunberg was upped to a regular after his memorable guest-starring turn in the pilot where his wife was played by Pamela Adlon. The show's regular cast now includes Newton, Grunberg and Zimmer.
The tentative scheduling plan for Love Bites is to launch the show in January in its old Thursdays 10PM slot, following the conclusion of The Apprentice, but the network might put it on it sooner in another time period.
"Love Bites is incredibly important to me, and it’s been gratifying that NBC feels the same. Launching an anthology series, which breaks the form in so many ways, is a huge undertaking, and I strongly feel that I can be most helpful not showrunning, but writing," Chupack said. "I have full faith in my fellow Executive Producers (Marc Buckland, and Working Title TV's Shelley McCrory, Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan), and we have a top-notch, dream writing staff. It's just become clear that for several reasons, some of them personal, this change (and a little more time) is what we need to launch this show properly."
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Jordana Spiro exits 'Love Bites'
Jordana Spiro has fallen out of Love Bites, NBC’s upcoming romantic anthology series from Sex and the City scribe Cindy Chupack.
Spiro’s involvement with the buzzy Bites (which also stars Ugly Betty vet Becki Newton) has been the subject of much speculation given the fact that she’s still contractually bound to TBS’ My Boys. Although the odds appear slim that TBS will renew the show for a fifth season (season 4 premieres July 25), it was a risk NBC apparently wasn’t willing to take. It’s unclear if her role will be recast.
The Peacock faces a similar dilemma with Spiro’s My Boys costar Kyle Howard, who is one of the leads of NBC’s new comedy Perfect Couples.
Speaking of My Boys, thanks to all those who participated in my informal poll in this week’s Ask Ausiello. The results are in and Kim is not the only fan of the show. Not by a long-shot.
