There have been a lot of series based on movies this development season. Here is one that sets itself apart as the filmmaker behind it also is shepherding the series. CBS has given a script commitment with penalty to In Good Company, a half-hour hybrid comedy based on Paul Weitz’s 2004 movie, with Weitz on board to co-write and executive produce. His brother, Chris Weitz, also executive produces. Universal TV is producing with Weitz brothers’ Depth of Field banner, which also co-produced the movie with Uni TV sibling Universal Pictures.
The TV series, which Paul Weitz will co-write with Josh Bycel and Jon Fener (Happy Endings), will stay close to the plot of the movie. It will center on a middle-aged ad exec who contends with his new boss who’s half his age, and who also begins dating his daughter.
The movie — which Paul Weitz wrote, directed and produced — starred Dennis Quaid as Dan, a 51-year-old happily married ad executive who is demoted following an acquisition of his magazine and gets 26-year-old business school prodigy Carter (Topher Grace) as his new boss. Carter soon starts seeing Dan’s daughter, played by Scarlett Johansson. The film was considered a satire of corporate culture and took shots at merger mania, mass layoffs, aggressive marketing tie-in practices and ageism, all issues that are still relevant 10 years later.
For UTA-repped Bycel and Fener, In Good Company falls under their overall deal at Uni TV. They executive produce the comedy with the film’s producers Paul and Chris Weitz, executive producer Andrew Miano of Deapth of Field and co-producer Kerry Kohansky.
It is very rare for the original creative auspices of a movie to spearhead the TV adaptation. For instance, WME-repped Paul and Chris Weitz co-wrote and directed the movie About A Boy but are not involved in the NBC series (though several of the movie’s producers are).
In Good Company joins a slew of movie titles that are being developed as series this season, including action comedy Rush Hour at CBS.