ABC Buys Futuristic Mystery Drama From Greg Berlanti, Maggie Friedman

Greg Berlanti has reunited with friend and frequent collaborator Maggie Friedman for a new drama project, The Thousandth Floor, which has been set up at ABC with a script commitment through Warner Bros. TV where both Berlanti and Friedman are based.

Written by Eastwick and Witches of East End creator Friedman based on the upcoming book series by Katharine McGee published by HarperTeen, The Thousandth Floor is set in 2118, in a thousand-story supertower on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. A young woman’s fall from the 1,000th floor ignites a scandal that ensnares the top-floor elite and the bottom-floor drones.

The project, from Berlanti Prods. and Alloy Entertainment in association with WBTV, is executive produced by Friedman, Berlanti Prods.’ Berlanti and Sarah Schechter and Alloy’s Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo.

The Thousandth Floor, which will be be published in 2017, is the first book in a planned trilogy by McGee, making her debut. The trilogy follows the scandalous lives of teens in Manhattan’s new 1000-story skyscraper.

Friedman and Berlanti have been close since they worked together on Dawson’s Creek. They did a pilot for ABC together in 2004, which also was written/exec produced by Friedman, exec produced by Berlanti and produced by Warner Bros. And Friedman served as a consulting producer on Berlanti’s WB/Warner Bros. series Jack & Bobby. Following a break, while Berlanti was at ABC Studios, the two reunited when Berlanti returned to WBTV in 2001. The same year, Berlanti and Friedman sold a high-concept crime drama to NBC, also penned by Friedman.

This marks the fourth sale this season for Berlanti Prods., which has 6 series on the air. It joins Out Of Body and the untitled Fedak/Berlanti project, which have put pilot commitments at CBS, and Brides Of Dracula, which has a pilot production commitment at NBC.

Friedman is with CAA and Jeffrey Thal at Ensemble Entertainment, Berlanti with WME.