E! has passed on its music-themed drama pilot Songbyrd, created/exec produced by Krista Vernoff and exec produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. Songbyrd was one of E!’s first two scripted pilots, along with drama The Royals. When The Royals was picked up to series in early March, Songbyrd was left in contention and last was featured in E!’s upfront slate at the end of March. Songbyrd, which originally was developed for NBC, centers on songwriter Lauren Byrd (Bethany Joy Lenz), a character loosely inspired by hitmaker Diane Warren. Lauren, writer of hit love songs, employs a small staff, including her sister Mickey (Rumer Willis), to enable and manage her eccentric yet wildly successful process.
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