NBC Buys Workplace Comedy From Gary Sanchez Prods & Writer Leslye Headland
NBC has put in development Assistance, a single-camera comedy from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Prods. It will be written by Leslye Headland who wrote and directed the feature Bachelorette, also produced by Gary Sanchez.
Based on a play by Headland, Assistance follows Nora, an idealistic assistant, and her daily efforts to try to find balance in her life as she strives to please her larger than life boss. Gary Sanchez’s Jessica Elbaum and Owen Burke will executive produce along with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.
The project stems from Gary Sanchez’s overall deal with Universal TV, which will produce the comedy. Headland, repped by CAA and Caliber Media, is writing a remake of About Last Night for Screen Gems, with Steve Pink directing and Joy Bryant, Kevin Hart and Michael Ealy starring.
The reviews of Bacherolette were extremely unkind and her play ASSISTANCE was poorly reviewed as well.
But she’s getting it done, boy-o.
Not the LA world premieres of both of those plays…rave reviews for both
Google her work. Bacherlorete — 50% on RT, NYT review of Assistance: Not funny, no plot.
@do: and clearly these poor reviews have stood in the way of her success, right? Dude (or dudette), get a clue–she’s hooked it up with comedy playahs, and is one of the flavors of the moment (see Lena Dunham/Apatow/UTA) I haven’t seen her movie or play so have no opinion but reviews don’t matter –obviously
Please don’t compare her to Lena Dunham. Have you read any of Dunham’s New Yorker articles? Have you seen TINY FURNITURE? Dunham is an exceptional writer that makes good art. Headland is none of these things. Not even in the same ballpark.
I sure am glad all these movie people who have never written for TV are selling shows.
Feature writers bring that extra za-za-za-zoom that most of you TV people can’t seem to muster.
Getting staffed every year, writing the same three plots, it wears ya down… creatively.
In some cases, sure. But those same 3 plots come in handy when you have 100 shows to write, no?
If only most series lasted 100 eps I’d give ya the benefit of the doubt and say good on ya. But a lot of network fare devolves into BS after episode three.
She did write on the critically acclaimed TV show Terriers. Does that count?
Terriers was a dog. I’m betting on better stuff this go-around.
Correction: Terriers are dogs.
flavor of the month. that’s what the networks want. Fresh and new.
Sounds completely unoriginal. Did she watch 9 TO 5, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and UGLY BETTY, then get the inspiration for her play? To a certain extent, this also sounds much like TV’s LESS THAN PERFECT, even BETTER OFF TED.
Smart, funny and having seen Bacherlorete I look forward to seeing what she has next. And David K- any show you can name has shows that preceded them. I bet she did watch those shows but no one is worrying if Dick Wolf ever watched DRAGNET.
Having just read this script I can say without hesitation that it is awful. There are no likable characters, zero funny lines of dialogue and exactly one laugh. It has the pace of 30 Rock with none of the funny. 39 pages of faced paced who gives a shit.
Geeze. Nobody’s read anything but the pilot. I read the pilot and, it’s isn’t the best thing I’ve ever read but it certainly isn’t the worst pilot I’ve read this season, either. There is nothing wrong with her premise. Comedy is about characters and conflict- not plot. Hell, even 30 Rock is less about the fact that Liz is overworked with no grasp (for most seasons) on her personal life as it is about the interaction between her and Jack (and the rest of the TGS staff). The premise will just help create that. Leslye is a talented writer and I am looking forward to seeing what she has in store. Will Farrell knows characters. The unwarranted negativity in these comments is staggering.