Pilot Casting News - 7th February 2015

Meryl Hathaway & Miles Fisher Tapped As Leads For Shaquille O’Neal’s Workplace Comedy Pilot

Meryl Hathaway (The Comeback) and Miles Fisher (Psych) have been tapped as female and male leads opposite Shaquille O’Neal on TruTV’s Shaq, Inc. and Matty Cardarople (Selfie), and Carl Anthony Payne (Martin) have also landed roles in the workplace comedy pilot that’s loosely based on the business empire of O’Neal. The former NBA star-turned-business mogul and occasional actor will topline and executive produce the project from Mandalay Sports Media, the company launched in 2012 by Peter Guber and Mike Tollin. Hathaway is Laura, the executive who Shaq calls “L-Train”, the only person at Shaq, Inc hired on her own merit, and Fisher will play Ed, the CEO of Shaq, Inc. Cardarople will play Blake, and Payne is cousin Mike.

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Lindsay Price, Chris Klein & Jared Gertner Cast In ‘How We Live’ NBC Comedy Pilot

Lindsay Price, Chris Klein and Jared Gertner have been cast as three of the leads in NBC’s single-camera comedy pilot How We Live, written/executive produced by Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley (Happy Endings) and executive produced by David Janollari. Inspired by Cragg and Bradley’s personal observations of their own family lives, the project centers on Russell, a blogger, and his wife Holly who move to the suburbs where he begins writing about marriage and the family lives of his suburban friends and neighbors, in the style of an anthropologist who’s stumbled on an undiscovered tribe.


Klein plays Russell’s best friend Matt, who loves sports and red meat and helps Russell navigate the pitfalls of his new environment. Gertner plays Matt’s friend Dennis, a sweet, nerdy, emotional guy who likes cooking. Price plays Dennis’ sweet, quirky and a little scattered wife Claudia.

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Will Yun Lee Cast In NBC Pilot ‘Warrior’

Will Yun Lee (Hawaii Five-0, True Blood, Wolverine) has joined the cast NBC’s martial arts drama pilot, Warrior. Written and executive produced by Traveler creator David DiGilio , directed by Phillip Noyce, and executive produced by Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, the project centers on a damaged heroine who works undercover with physical and spiritual guidance from a mysterious martial arts master to bring down an international crime lord.

Lee will play Susano, a deadly and dangerous martial arts expert who is head of a Japanese crime syndicate where he enjoys considerable power, wealth and respect.

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Thomas Haden Church & Molly Shannon To Co-Star In Sarah Jessica Parker’s HBO Pilot ‘Divorce’

Thomas Haden Church and Molly Shannon are set to co-star opposite Sarah Jessica Parker in HBO‘s comedy pilot Divorce, which marks the Sex and the City star’s return to the network. Also cast in the pilot, directed by Jesse Peretz, is Talia Balsam.

Written/executive produced by British writer-actress Sharon Horgan and Paul Simms, Divorce tells the story of a very, very long divorce. Parker plays Frances, a woman who suddenly begins to reassess her life and her marriage, and finds that making a clean break and a fresh start is harder than she thought. Church is Robert, Frances’ husband who is surprised to learn that his wife’s perspective on their marriage is different from his. Shannon plays Diane, Frances’ high-strung friend who has a successful husband, a beautiful house, and no children. Balsam is Dallas, Frances’ close friend, who has been both widowed and divorced.

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Megalyn Echikunwoke Joins Lifetime’s ‘Damien’, Aisha Hinds In TNT Pilot ‘Breed’

Megalyn Echikunwoke has joined the cast of Damien, Lifetime’s straight-to-series drama follow-up to 20th Century Fox’s classic horror film The Omen. Produced by Fox TV Studios, the six-episode Damien follows the adult life of Damien Thorn (James), the mysterious child from the 1976 film who has grown up, seemingly unaware of the satanic forces around him. Haunted by his past, Damien must now come to terms with his true destiny — that he is the Antichrist, the most feared man throughout the ages. Echikunwoke will play Simone Baptiste, a woman who grew up in the shadow of her overachieving sister whose life is thrown into turmoil when tragedy strikes, leading her to question her religious faith. Echikunwoke also just booked a recurring guest star role on Fox’s The Following. Her previous credits include ABC’s Mind Games, Showtime’s House Of Lies and feature A Good Day To Die Hard.


Under The Dome’s Aisha Hinds has landed a role opposite Justin Chatwin in TNT pilot Breed, from writer/novelist John Scott Shepherd, director Scott Winant and producer Nicky Weinstock. The supernatural thriller tells the wild and chilling story of a series of brutal murders in the Pacific Northwest and the mysterious race of creatures who may be committing them. Hinds will play police Captain Dennison, Cooper’s (Chatwin) boss, who warily gives him some leeway to pursue his unusual theories about the recent murders in Tacoma.

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Colin Hanks To Star In CBS Comedy Pilot ‘Life In Pieces’

Coming off his Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated turn on the FX miniseries Fargo, Colin Hanks has been cast as a lead in CBS’ single-camera comedy pilot Life In Pieces.

Written on spec by Justin Adler, the project, from 20th TV and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment, is about one family as told through the separate stories of its different family members. Hanks plays Greg, the coddled youngest of three siblings who finds himself overwhelmed and unprepared for the birth of his first child.

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Paul Fitzgerald, Mary Catherine Garrison & Nico Tortorella Join Mike White’s ‘Mamma Dallas’ HBO Comedy Pilot

Paul Fitzgerald, Mary Catherine Garrison and Nico Tortorella (The Following) will co-star opposite Augustus Prew in Mamma Dallas, HBO’s comedy pilot by Enlightened creator Mike White, who also will have a role on the show. Written, directed and executive produced by White, the half-hour project follows a couple, Carrie Cox (Garrison) and Hugh Cox (Fitzgerald), who unwittingly hire a hard-living drag queen, for post 588385 Liberty (Prew), as their live-in nanny. Liberty appears to be an attractive woman with a flirty side — but she’s really a drag queen with an upbeat personality. On a path that leads to jail or prostitution or both, Liberty (also known as Albert) sees a future that will destroy his basically optimistic spirit and re-invents himself to get a job as a nanny to three children of a conservative Texan family.

With her decorating business taking off, perfectionistic Carrie needs a nanny to help with the kids, and it doesn’t occur to Carrie that she’s having a long talk about childrearing with a drag queen. Hugh is an earnest, successful man with political aspirations who is deathly afraid of any hint of scandal. Tortorella plays Liberty’s lowlife boyfriend Jesse, who runs a chop shop and steals high-priced sports cars with Liberty’s help. He’s horrified that his macho friends will find out he’s dating a guy. White plays Liberty’s roommate Tammy, a chain smoker who is always strung out and has no life ambitions.

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