Amazon Greenlights TV Shows by Jason Schwartzman, ‘X-Files’ Creator
UPDATE: Amazon has cancelled Chris Carter’s The After after showing the pilot episode last year, according to Variety. The company did not reveal the reason behind the cancellation.
Amazon Studios has given four new series the green light after reviewing 10 pilots that have been under consideration in recent months. Variety reports that Amazon decided on the series by judging ratings and viewer feedback, a process that produced the comedies Alpha House and Betas last year.
Chief among the new series is The After, a drama conceived by X-Files creator Chris Carter, that follows eight strangers brought together by “mysterious forces.” The group must then work with one another to survive their daily life, which is now filled with inexplicable violence.
Another pilot that got studio go-ahead is Bosch, a police drama written by Michael Connelly, who has written a series of 16 books about LAPD detective Harry Bosch, with Law and Order and Treme alum Eric Overmyer. The pilot follows Bosch splitting his time between standing trial for allegedly murdering a serial killer and pursuing the killer of a 13-year-old boy. The cast includes 24 actress Annie Wersching and, as Bosch, Titus Welliver, who has appeared in Argo and The Town.
Amazon also approved the pilot for Transparent, which is described as a dark comedy about a family with “boundary issues.” Six Feet Under producer and writer Jill Soloway wrote and directed the pilot, which starred Arrested Development’s Jeffrey Tambor, actress Gaby Hoffman and Who’s the Boss alumna Judith Light, among others.
It also signed up a dramedy entitled Mozart in the Jungle, which focuses on action behind the curtains at a symphony. A trio of notable screenwriters wrote the show’s pilot, based on a memoir by Blair Tindale: Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola (co-writer of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and The Darjeeling Limited) and writer-director Alex Timbers (co-director of the Broadway production Peter and the Starcatcher). Little Fockers and About a Boy director Paul Weitz helmed the pilot, which stars Gael García Bernal, Malcolm McDowell and Bernadette Peters.