Essential 11 Television is producing a pilot for a home renovation series in Los Angeles for the US network HGTV while three other shows are premiering in the US this month.
Three Dads and A House features LA’s Re-Inhabit, a boutique firm which specialises in restoring dilapidated structures while retaining their original character.
Based in LA and Toronto, Essential 11 is a factual entertainment co-venture between Essential Media and Entertainment, Canada’s 11 Television and Primitive Entertainment.
Launching this week on the DIY Network are BackFlip, a 4-part series in which restoration expert Brett Waterman transforms a poorly renovated Palm Springs villa into a historically-accurate dream home; and Texas Flip ’n Move, a nine-part series about three family businesses in Fort Worth which compete against each other to locate, move, renovate and sell homes for the highest price.
Fool’s Gold, an eight-part docu-comedy that debuted on Discovery Canada, will have its US premiere on Animal Planet on January 15. Already in post is a second season of Fool's Gold which follows Todd Ryznar, his childhood friends, neighbours, and beer league hockey teammates, as they attempt to extract gold from an abandoned gold mine.
The show is executive produced by Chris Hilton, Essential 11 president Jesse Fawcett and Michael McMahon with Jonathan Dueck producing and Joey Case showrunning.
Also in post is Made Up, a 13 x 30’ hidden camera prank comedy show for Disney Channel and YTV Canada.
Essential’s scripted push in the US is headed by Simonne Overend, VP of scripted development. As IF reported, the Fox network ordered the script for a pilot for a one-hour series from Chernin Entertainment, adapted from Essential’s trio of Jack Irish telepics.
The screenplay is being written by showrunner Anna Fricke (Being Human) and Seamus Kevin Fahey (Spartacus: Blood and Sand). The network is expected to decide this month whether to proceed to a pilot, likely to be set in Boston.
Essential’s US arm is also collaborating with Monumental Pictures’ Alison Owen and actor/executive producer Natascha McElhone to develop a contemporary version of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.
The US ABC network commissioned a script which will follow the lives of four sisters coming of age against the backdrop of a military scandal as their family loses its fortune and confronts a conservative and traditional society .
McElhone will play one of the leads in her follow-up to Showtime's Californication. The script is being written by Jordan Roberts. Julie Anne Robinson will direct and executive produce with McElhone. Robinson directed the movie The Last Song and episodes of The Middle, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Weeds.