TNT to put on cosmetics, boxing dramas

Turner-owned TNT in the US has ordered pilots for two scripted dramas set in the worlds of cosmetics and elite boxing, one of which will be executive produced by Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr

Constance is described as a fun, darkly humorous story about a former beauty queen turned small-town bureaucrat (Elisabeth Shue) whose life is thrown into turmoil after her husband’s mysterious death.

Realising she and her family are on the verge of financial ruin, she turns to cooking the books at city hall, while simultaneously trying to reinvent herself through the hyper-competitive world of direct-sales cosmetics.

Written by KC Perry and directed by Jesse Peretz, it comes from Team Downey in association with Sonar Entertainment and Studio T. It is executive produced by Downey Jr alongside Susan Downey, Amanda Burrell, Bill Dubuque, Tom Lesinski, Jenna Santoianni, Peretz, Shue and Perry.

Beast Mode (working title), meanwhile, is written and executive produced by David Schneiderman, with executive producers Stefanie Huie and Macro’s Charles D King, Kim Roth and Poppy Hanks.

Inspired by the life of legendary boxing trainer Ann Wolfe, the show tells the story of a feisty, brilliant-yet-damaged woman with a ‘kill or be killed” mentality.

“Constance and Beast Mode exist in two radically different worlds, one of cosmetics and crime and the other of elite boxing, but both pilots are about complicated, empowered women who are incredible forces of nature,” said Sarah Aubrey, executive VP of original programming for TNT.