A Writer for 'Star Wars Episode 7'

A screenwriter has already produced a 40- to 50-page treatment for Star Wars Episode 7, the first of the new trilogy that was announced in connection with the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm, according to Vulture.  

Michael Arndt, who won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine and was nominated for Toy Story 3, has 
completed his treatment and is the leading candidate to pen the full script, according to the report.

The treatment is going to be pitched to top directors including Brad Bird (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), Steven Spielberg, and J.J. Abrams.

The studio hopes to get the three central stars from the first film to play the characters much older: Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill.   

The Vulture story is based on information from "informed sources," with no direct comment from any of the people involved, so should probably be taken with a grain of salt until confirmed, although Vulture is usually reliable.

NBC Picks Up New J.J. Abrams' Series

NBC has made its first pick-up for the 2010-2011 TV season by acquiring Undercovers, a new spy series created by J.J. Abrams and Josh Reims. The series stars Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a married couple who thought their careers in the CIA were over, until they are recalled to duty. According to Variety, Undercovers is being produced at Warner Bros. Television.

Abrams has created or co-created a number of TV series including Felicity, Lost, and Fringe, and has directed Mission Impossible III and the 2009 Star Trek. Abrams also created a previous “spy” series, Alias, which debuted on ABC in 2001 and spawned comic books, trading cards and other merchandise.

Fox Opts for more "Fringe" Benefits

The Hollywood trades are reporting that the Fox Network has picked up the option on a full season order for J.J. Abrams’ science fiction series Fringe. The order means nine more episodes of the series will be produced and will air during the second half of the current television season.

Fox’s action is in response to the show’s strong performance in the ratings. After solid ratings for the two-hour pilot, Fringe did extremely well when paired with Fox’s hit series House in an early season debut (see "Fringe Up in Second Week"). Ratings cooled somewhat when the competition got stiffer, but they have shown steady gains in the past two weeks and Fringe is attracting about 10.7 million total viewers and is tops among all the freshmen series in the coveted 18-47 demographic. Fringe is the second new series to receive a full season pick-up—the CW’s Beverly Hills 90210 was the first.

DC Comics is publishing a comic book series based on the Fringe TV series under its Wildstorm imprint (see “DC to Publish Fringe Comic”), though a recent announcement from the publisher stated that orders for the second, third, and fourth issues have been cancelled though they will all be resolicited. Fringe #2 is now slated for release in January, and Fox’s decision to opt for a full season pick-up means that the TV series will be airing in 2009 to support the Fringe comic book series