BBC America preps Poehler drama

BBC America is developing a slew of scripted series, including projects from actor Amy Poehler and the producers of Top of the Lake.

Amy Poehler

Zero Motivation is based on the 2014 feature film of the same name and explores life in the Israeli army through the eyes of an eclectic cast of young women. The project is being exec produced by Brooke Posch and Poehler (Parks and Recreation) through her US-based firm Paper Kite Productions.

Trip, from Top of the Lake prodco See-Saw Films, is being written by Louise Fox (Glitch) and is based on the classic Chinese novel Monkey: Journey to the West, which explores reincarnation.

Also on the slate is sci-fi drama Memoria, which is being written by Adam Barken (Killjoys, Flashpoint) and produced by Orphan Black producer Temple Street, and Quatermass, from Nicola Shindler’s Red Production Company.

The show is a reboot of the 1970s ITV series and follows a professor and his daughter as they investigate an alien invasion. Jeremy Dyson (League of Gentlemen, Ghost Story) is attached to write, with Red’s parent company StudioCanal handling distribution and acting as studio.

Sarah Barnett

Elsewhere, Junk explores the fast-food industry and will be penned by Dean Craig (Death at a Funeral), while Foreign Babes in Beijing is being developed by Rachel DeWoskin and Zayd Dohrn. The latter is based on DeWoskin’s memoir of the same name that chronicles her experiences as a soap opera actress on Chinese television.

BBC America, which is owned by BBC Worldwide and AMC Networks, is also prepping the fourth season of Ripper Street to debut on July 28, while fellow drama Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, greenlit earlier this year, will premiere on October 22.

The US network recently aired the latest reboot of motoring format Top Gear and will also show natural history docuseries Planet Earth II.

Sarah Barnett, BBC America president, said: “From Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency to Planet Earth II to Top Gear to our new work in development, this is television that US audiences become fanatical about because of its unabashed commitment to an entertaining vision and strong point of view.”