Amazon Studios Zeroes In On ‘Betas’ Comedy Pilot Produced By Michael London

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios continues to ramp up its original slate. I hear the original movie and series production arm of Amazon.com is finalizing a deal for a pilot order to comedy Betas, produced by feature producer Michael London (Sideways) via Groundswell Prods. The company also has been hammering out a license fee deal with Sony Pictures TV for Zombieland, a comedy pilot based on the 2009 movie, which is already actively casting. They would join the six comedy pilots Amazon Studios announced in December, which are in various stages of production and have attracted talent of the caliber of John Goodman and Bebe Neuwirth. The company yesterday gave the green light for five children’s pilots.

Betas is set in the world of Silicon Valley start-ups and centers on a young guy trying to raise venture capital for his idea. It was written by young writers Evan Endicott and Josh Stoddard. I hear Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland (Due Date) have come on board as showrunners and Michael Lehman (American Horror Story) as director. This is the second comedy pilot set in Silicon Valley currently in the works, joining Mike Judge’s HBO half-hour Silicon Valley, which is now casting. Cohen, Freedland and Lehman are repped by WME; London, Endicott and Stoddard are with CAA. Stoddard is managed by Noah Rosen, Endicott by Jewerl Ross.