Bill Lawrence Cop Comedy Lands At ABC With Big Put Pilot Commitment

EXCLUSIVE: ABC is feeling the force. No, the network is not already working on a Star Wars series following last week’s Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm. In a competitive situation, ABC has snagged Feel The Force, an ensemble cop comedy written and executive produced by Bill Lawrence, with a put pilot commitment plus penalty. The single-camera project is based on the 2006 BBC2 comedy starring Michelle Gomez (watch the trailer below), created by Georgia Pritchett and produced by Catherine Bailey Limited. It centers on two rookie female cops who struggle to prove themselves in a male-dominated police force.

Warner Bros TV and Lawrence’s studio-based Doozer are producing, with Doozer’s Lawrence and Jeff Ingold executive producing. This marks Lawrence’s return to ABC where all of his previous series have run. That includes his first show, Spin City, which he co-created; Scrubs, which ended its run on ABC; and his latest comedy, Cougar Town, which aired on ABC for three seasons before moving to TBS. (Lawrence is consulting on Cougar Town, which he co-created.)

This marks ICM Partners-repped Doozer’s fourth sale this development season, joining  I Suck At Girls, which has a pilot production commitment at Fox, Ali In Wonderland, which is a put pilot at NBC, and another half-hour at NBC, Undateable, which has penalty attached. Lawrence serves as an executive producer on the three comedies, which all are based on books.