ABC has become the latest network forced to slash its pilot season development slate for lack of delivered scripts, even as the writers’ union resumes talks with studio execs.
ABC axed about 40 scripts, more than twice the number of rivals Fox, CBS and The CW, all of whom have already trimmed their slates as a result of the 12-week-old Hollywood writers’ strike.
“The ongoing strike has caused us to re-evaluate our development needs, and we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce the number of scripts under consideration,” said ABC.
Most of the terminated projects, most of them dramas, were being developed by ABC Studios. They include the Salma Hayek-produced pilot for Get Out, as well as One Big Happy, from The War at Home scribe Rob Lotterstein, and an untitled script being developed by non-writing producing duo Nina Wass and Gene Stein, whose overall contract with ABC Studios was an earlier casualty of strike-related cutbacks.
Earlier this week, the Writers’ Guild of America announced that it would head back to the negotiating table for the first time since talks with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down on December 7. A media blackout on those proceedings is in place.
