Film director Brett Ratner is making a foray into television, signing a two-year development deal with 20th Century Fox TV.
The “Rush Hour” and “Red Dragon” helmer already has two projects set up with CBS — a family drama about a sports agent and a Los Angeles-set cop show.
“Brett is just an unstoppable force of energy,” Dana Walden, president of 20th Century Fox TV, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “He is such an entertaining and charismatic person that it’s easy to understand why so many people want to work with him.”
Ratner’s deal with 20th Century Fox is not his first TV venture. His company, Rat TV, sold several pilots during the 1999-2000 development season through a deal with the now-defunct Artists Television Group.
Both of the CBS projects have received script commitments from the network. The family drama will focus on a sports agent who has to take on more parental responsibility when his wife takes a new job. David Diamond and David Weissman, who wrote the Ratner-directed feature “The Family Man,” are writing the pilot.
The other show, tentatively titled “Hollywood DOA,” comes from “Law & Order” veteran Barry Schindel. It follows a pair of Los Angeles detectives.
If the projects make it to the pilot stage, and he’s available, Ratner is scheduled to direct both. He has two films currently in the works: “Rush Hour 3” and the heist movie “Josiah’s Canon.” Another film, “After the Sunset,” is set for a November release.
Credit: Zap2It
