July 18, 2015
By Whitney Friedlander
A&E is delving into the world of 1990s Los Angeles crime, announcing Wednesday that it has ordered the pilot “The Infamous.”
The project, penned by “Gambit” film scribe Joshua Zetumer, is set in the era leading up to the L.A. riots. It follows an ambitious reformed gangster poised to break out of South Central and the LAPD detective equally determined to take him down. It hails from A+E Studios in association with Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson’s Color Force. They are exec producing along with Zetumer.
“Original scripted series have become an increasingly important part of the A&E brand,” said Elaine Frontain Bryant, A&E Network’s exec VP and head of programming, who made the announcement. “By looking a few decades back in time, ‘The Infamous’ urgently explores the issues of racial tension and injustice that remain relevant today.”
This marks another big deal for Jacobson and Simpson’s Color Force, as they are also partnering with Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk on FX’s “American Crime Story.” The first season of that true-crime anthology covers, fittingly, the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
Zetumer is represented by UTA, Management 360 and attorney Rob Szymanski at Eclipse Law Corp. Jacobson and Simpson are represented by CAA and attorney Skip Brittenham of Ziffren Brittenham.