The Jack Irish telemovies could be the latest Australian drama headed for a US network remake.
The Fox network has ordered the script for a pilot for a one-hour series adapted from Essential Media and Entertainment’s trio of telepics starring Guy Pearce as a former criminal lawyer turned private investigator and debt collector.
The project was pitched to Chernin Entertainment, which has a first-look deal with Fox, by UTA and Simonne Overend, Essential’s Los Angeles-based VP of drama development.
The script will be written by Anna Fricke (Being Human), who is also the showrunner, and Seamus Kevin Fahey (Spartacus: Blood and Sand).
Essential CEO Chris Hilton, who will executive produce with his Essential partner/head of drama Ian Collie and Overend, told IF the network will decide on whether to commission a pilot, likely to be set in Boston, in January.
Chernin Entertainment produces Fox's New Girl and it made Touch and Ben and Kate, which were cancelled by Fox last year.
Overend, an Aussie who previously worked for RGM Artist Group, the ABC, BBC4, Disney, Roadshow, Film Victoria and United International Pictures, launched Essential’s LA office in May 2013.
She has three projects with Disney’s ABC Studios. Hoodlum Entertainment’s Tracey Robertson and Nathan Mayfield and Aaron Kaplan's Kapital Entertainment are producing the Secrets & Lies remake for ABC.
Essential, Fedora Entertainment and Sony Pictures TV collaborated on the US version of Rake, starring Greg Kinnear, which was not renewed after its first season on Fox.