UK prodco Ecosse Films has broken into US network television for the first time after ABC ordered an adaptation of its BBC drama Mistresses.
Ecosse and ABC Studios will coproduce the series, which has been given an initial 10-episode order and is slated for a summer 2013 launch.
Production is due to begin in five weeks time in Los Angeles, with Ecosse MD Douglas Rae and ABC’s Bob Sertner exec producing. KJ Steinberg (The Nine, Gossip Girl) has been named as showrunner.
Ecosse will also be advising on scripts and casting for the show, which will stay faithful to the original story about the lives of four women who embark on a series of illicit affairs.
It originally ran on UK pubcaster BBC1 for three seasons from 2008 to 2010.
Ecosse has experience working in the US, previously coproducing the drama Camelot for cablenet Starz and Meadowlands for Showtime.
Rae told C21 Ecosse has been in talks to have Mistresses remade in the US for about 18 months and ABC has now picked up the series as it searches for a show to replace Desperate Housewives, which is coming to an end this year.
Rae said: “Having a network show on one of the big US channels is a great calling card when going out with all our other productions we’re developing for the BBC and other broadcasters.
“Increasingly, British television productions are becoming more international. People are getting more ambitious in wanting to make things for the world market. Licence fees are often not enough to make a programme so you have to appeal to a wider audience.”
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