Via: DefenderNetwork.com
Thesp Don Cheadle has now set his sights on building a mini TV empire.
Crescendo, the production company Cheadle launched with former managers Kay Liberman and Lenore Zerman, has sealed a first-look TV deal at NBC.
Shingle already has a handful of projects set up at the Peacock, as well as several more at ABC, TNT and FX.
Fare includes an ABC adaptation of the feature “The Star Chamber,” from scribe Zack Estrin (”Prison Break”), as well as a Boston-set cop drama from John Hlavin (”The Shield”) at NBC.
“We take it seriously,” Cheadle said. “I’ve found there are ways to execute stories in all these mediums. It just has to be something that tickles your fancy.”
Cheadle said his decision to enter the TV game came out of a conversation he had with former NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chair Ben Silverman at a party.
“We came in as a company and met and talked, and I realized that there was maybe something here,” Cheadle said. “(After that), there were a lot of incoming calls with people trying to get into business with us.”
Silverman is long gone, but Cheadle and Liberman said they have been working just as closely with Peacock entertainment topper Angela Bromstad and her team.
“Don’s a gifted actor who also is an incredibly smart producer,” said Hlavin, who’s behind Crescendo’s “Boston P.D.” at NBC.
Hlavin’s project will center on a homicide detective who discovers he shares a surprising connection to his new partner. Universal Media Studios is onboard as the studio.
“The idea was to create a police procedural with a family drama at its heart,” Hlavin said.
Estrin’s “The Star Chamber,” meanwhile, is set up at the Alphabet through 20th Century Fox TV.
“Star Chamber” is a suspense drama that centers on a judge who goes after dangerous criminals who are set free by a flawed judicial system.
Original “Star Chamber,” released in 1983, starred Michael Douglas, Hal Holbrook and Yaphet Kotto.
Cheadle singled out “The Star Chamber” as one of his passion projects.
