Gabrielle Union’s ‘L.A.’s Finest’ Gets The Greenlight At Charter
It ain’t over for Gabrielle Union’s police pilot. While Union’s drama, a spinoff from her Bad Boys 2 character co-starring Jessica Alba was rejected by NBC, it will live to see another day. Cable provider Charter Communications will pick up the drama as its first scripted show for this fall. It will run 13 episodes.
“Charter has a strong passion for the project and we could not be more excited. Immediately we knew this innovative new platform was absolutely the right home for L.A.’s Finest,” said Jeff Frost, President of Sony Pictures.
“Charter is excited to partner with top producers Sony, (Jerry) Bruckheimer and the rest of the incredible team behind and in front of the camera on our first Spectrum Original Content endeavor. Our content partnerships offer us a great opportunity to provide Spectrum customers with the dynamic, authentic and unique programming that drives value for their Spectrum subscription,” said Katherine Pope, Senior Vice President, Head of Original Content, Charter Communications.“
Charter Communications also has original content deals with AMC Networks and Viacom and recently hired a seasoned TV exec, Katherine Pope, to head up original content. As Charter’s first move into this space, this is a big one. WIth high-caliber stars, recognizable continuity, its a key move for Spectrum’s space in high-end, premium content.
Arguably the most high-profile pilot of the season (with an expensive pilot said to cost $12M), NBC passing on the series was a shock as it features two movie stars and women of color. Union, who fronted the spinoff from the start, wanted to land a big name as her co-lead and personally sought Alba.
Shadow and Act spoke to Union about the pilot recently. “We’re really excited. And to be able to co-executive produce with Jessica Alba..it’s like, we feel like boss bitches. It just really feels good that two women of color are the leads, are the executive producers, put the whole thing together and that we know that we are deserving of this opportunity. That nobody gave it to us, we took it. So hopefully NBC agrees. No pressure, NBC (laughs)…but we really hope we are on the fall lineup.”
The series would see Union reprising her character, Special Agent Sydney “Syd” Burnett, from the second Bad Boys film. Burnett was an undercover DEA operative and sister of Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett and love interest for Will Smith’s Mike Lowrey.