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Steven Spielberg To Create Musical Pilot For NBC

Speilberg going musical

The new NBC chairman of entertainment, Robert Greenblatt, seems intent on making a mark early on in his reign, and is doing so by ordering a pilot for a project that he had originally developed during his time working for the Showtime Network.

NBC seem to accept this plan, after they confirmed the greenlight of Smash, a big-production hour-long musical series set about preparation of a Broadway, with the project based on an idea from Steven Spielberg. It is planned that the pilot will be produced from Universal Media Studios and Dreamworks TV, with the storyline based on a range of unique characters who work together in order to stage a musical at Broadway.

Alongside illustrious director Spielberg (whose credits include big-name movies such as Jaws, E.T., and the Indiana Jonesseries) in the position of executive producer are scriptwriter Theresa Rebeck, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey (from Dreamworks TV), while Hairsprayproducers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will be able to offer their experience in the musical show industry. Grammy-winning songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman who also be on the team in order to provide original songs for the planned series. There are also plans for the recruitment of Michael Mayer (American Idiot) to serve as director of the project. Smashwill be the latest addition to a variety line-up of Dreamworks TV’s projects, with upcoming series such as The Borgias (on Showtime), and Terra Nova (Fox).

If the project is a success, it will be another challenger in the growing and trending ’musicals’ market, which was kick-started, and lead, by Fox’s breakout show Glee. Will Smash be able to challenge this dominance, if it gets as far as airing?

Crazy Matt Cazzy into all things hi-tech, gizmos and gadgets. If its just out, i want it. Loves watching tv on every device ever invented that can handle it
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This entry was posted on Monday, January 24th, 2011 at 12:42 pm and is filed under TV Shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Steven Spielberg To Create Musical Pilot For NBC”

  1. As a huge fan of Steven Spielberg I would never have imagined that he would become involved in a musical series. It will be interesting to see how Spielberg’s influence might change what we typically see from musical productions.

    As a sci-fi nut, I’m much more excited about his Terra Nova TV series premiering in May but I’ll definitely give Smash a try!

  2. [...] Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee in Steven Spielberg’s hour long musical pilot for NBC, Smash, said to be inspired by the success of Fox’s [...]

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