Upfronts 2017: The Overachievers List

As we close the book on another broadcast development season, here is Deadline’s annual honor roll of those who excelled at the 2017 upfronts. Also included is a list of pods and independent production companies with multiple series on broadcast and cable.

Greg Berlanti is in expansion mode. With two new broadcast series, Deception on ABC and Black Lightning on the CW, his Berlanti Prods. will have 10 series on the air, tying the record set by Aaron Spelling and Jerry Bruckheimer. Unlike their tallies of all-broadcast series, Berlanti Prods. has 8 broadcast series, one cable series, the upcoming You on Lifetime, and one streaming series, Titans on the new DC digital service. Berlanti Prods., which Berlanti runs with Sarah Schechter, saw all six of its current broadcast series renewed for next season, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow and Riverdale on the CW and Blindspot on NBC.

Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment has two new comedy series on CBS, 9JKL, — the first under Kapital’s joint venture with CBS Corp. — and Me, Myself & I. Both are exec produced by Kaplan and Kapital’s Dana Honor, with 9JKL also exec produced by Wendi Trilling. Kapital Entertainment has a total of 7 series on the air, the recently renewed American Housewife on ABC, Life In Pieces on CBS, Divorce on HBO and Santa Clarita Diet on Netflix as well as Showtime’s upcoming The Chi.

Shonda Rhimes‘s Shondaland is expanding its ABC footprint with two new drama series, For the People and a Grey’s Anatomy spinoff revolving around firefighters. Shondaland has a total of 6 series on the network, including returning Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How To Get Away with Murder and the upcoming Still Star-Crossed.

Keshet Studios, the U.S.-based scripted studio of Keshet International launched in July 2015 with Peter Traugott as head and Rachel Kaplan as his No.2, scored two new series: The Brave on NBC, which landed the post-Voice Monday 10 PM slot, and Wisdom of the Crowd on CBS. They join the company’s upcoming straight-to-series drama at HBO.

.

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage & their Fake Empire also had two new series pickups, Dynasty at the CW and Marvel’s Runaways, which was announced at the Hulu upfront.

The ever-expanding Marvel Television has two new broadcast series, the straight-to-series ABC drama The Inhumans, whose first two episodes will debut in Imax theaters, and The Gifted on Fox. They join the Disney-based company’s five series and a limited series at Netflix as well as Legion and the upcoming Deadpool at FX, Cloak and Dagger and New Warriors at Freeform and Runaways at Hulu. And Neil Moritz‘s Original Films got two new series pickups at the upfronts, S.W.A.T. at CBS and Happy! at Syfy, joining Preacher.

.

Management/production company 3 Arts Entertainment is producing three new broadcast series, comedies Ghosted on NBC and Champions on NBC and drama The Resident on Fox, plus upcoming NBC reality series The Handmade Project, with NBC comedy pilot The Sackett Sisters still in contention. The company’s five freshman broadcast series all are coming back, NBC’s The Good Place and Great News, CBS’ Man With A Plan and Superior Donuts and Fox’s The Mick. Marlon debuts in the summer.

Several prolific showrunners with series on the air added a new show to their portfolio.

Ryan Murphy has new straight-to-series drama 9-1-1 at Fox starring Angela Bassett, joining returning anthology series American Crime Story, American Horror Story and Feud as well as the upcoming period drama Pose on FX.

Dick Wolf  has new NBC series Law & Order: True Crime – The Menendez Murders joining his four returning NBC drama series, veteran Law & Order: SVU as well as Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med, with the fate of Chicago Justice still TBD. His Wolf Entertainment also has eight docu/reality series on cable and streaming networks.

Chuck Lorre added straight-to-series The Big Bang Theory spinoff Young Sheldon to returning Big Bang and Mom on CBS and new Netflix comedy Disjointed. Shawn Ryan is adding new CBS drama S.W.A.T. to resurrected NBC drama Timeless. And Jason Katims has new NBC drama Rise. His company True Jack, which he runs with Michelle Lee, also is behind Hulu’s freshman series The Path.

In front of the camera, Bobby Moynihan had a very busy upfront. His CBS comedy pilot Me, Myself & I was picked up to series and landed on the fall schedule, while Syfy, which also presented this week as part of NBCUniversal picked up to series pilot Happy!, in which he voices the title character. In addition to that, Moynihan is working hard on his final episodes of Saturday Night Live, which he is leaving after 9 seasons.

Additionally, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia‘s Glenn Howerton is joining his co-star Kaitlin Olson in pulling a rare double duty, toplining two major series at the same time. He will continue as a lead of FX’s veteran comedy while also playing the lead in NBC’s new comedy series AP Bio.

Several pods/independents landed a new series in addition to their existing ones.

Alex Kurtzman and his Secret Hideout, which he runs with Heather Kadin, is adding a new series for CBS, Instinct to the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access and Salvation on CBS returning CBS dramas Scorpion and Hawaii Five-0. John Davis and John Fox’s Davis Entertainment added new Zach Braff ABC comedy series Alex, Inc. to returning Timeless, which was dramatically renewed after cancellation, and The Blacklist on NBC. Steven Spielberg’s Amblin TV, run by Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank, added new NBC drama series Reverie to returning Bull on CBS and The Americans on FX and the upcoming The Haunting on netflix. Ellen DeGeneres‘ A Very Good Production, run by Jeff Kleeman, produces new ABC comedy series Splitting Up Together as well as upcoming Netflix animated series Green Eggs and Ham and four NBC reality series, Little Big Shots and its upcoming spinoff, Ellen’s Game of Games and First Dates. Gale Anne Hurd‘s Valhalla Entertainment added newly announced Bravo event series All That Glitters to The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead on AMC, Falling Water on USA and Lore on Amazon. Justin Lin’s Perfect Storm, which he runs with Danielle Woodrow, added S.W.A.T. to returning Scorpion. Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly‘s Timberman/Beverly Prods. added new CBS drama series SEAL Team to the returning Elementary. And Warner Bros’ DC Entertainment added new CW drama series The Black Lightning to returning Supergirl, Arrow, Flash, DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow and iZombie on the CW, and Gotham and Lucifer on Fox.

A handful of producers also got bragging rights for controlling blocks of primetime programming on the broadcast networks. Shondaland has the 8-11 PM TGIT night on ABC. Lee Daniels is in charge of Wednesday 8-10 PM on Fox (Empire, Star), Greg Berlanti has the CW’s Tuesday 8-10 PM lineup (The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow), Dick Wolf oversees NBC’s Wednesday 9-11 PM block (Law & Order: SVU, Chicago P.D.), Peter Lenkov runs the 8-10 PM CBS dramas on Friday (MacGyver, Hawaii Five-0) and Kapital Entertainment produces the 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM Monday CBS comedies (9JKL and Me, Myself & I).

BY THE NUMBERS:

(Pods/Independent production companies with multiple shows on the broadcast + major cable/digital networks):

Berlanti Prods.: 10 (The Black Lightning, Deception, Riverdale, DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow, Blindspot, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, You, Titans)

Kapital Entertainment: 7 (9JFK; Me, Myself & I; American Housewife; Life In Pieces; Divorce; Santa Clarita Diet, The Chi)

Shondaland: 6 (Grey’s Anatomy spinoff, For the People, Still Star-Crossed, How To Get Away With Murder, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal)

A Very Good Production: 6 (Splitting Up Together, Green Eggs and Ham, Little big Shots, Little Big Shots: Forever Young, Ellen’s Game Of Games, First Dates)

Ryan Murphy Prods.: 5 (9-1-1, Feud, American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Pose)

Wolf Films: 5 (Law & Order: True Crime – The Menendez Murders, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med) + 8 cable/digital docu/reality series (Nightwatch New Orleans, Nightwatch Tampa, FBI NYC, FBI Most Wanted, Cold Justice, Criminal Confessions, Hunt For KSM, Dark Web)

Mark Gordon Co.: 5 (Designated Survivor, Quantico, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Ray Donovan)

Secret Hideout: 5 (Instinct, Scorpion, Hawaii Five-0, Star Trek: Discovery, Salvation)

Valhalla Entertainment: 5 (All That Glitters, The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, Falling Water, Lore)

Chuck Lorre Prods: 4 (Young Sheldon, Mom, The Big Bang Theory, Disjointed)

Amblin TV: 4 (Reverie, Bull, The Americans, The Haunting)

Imagine TV: 4 (Empire, Arrested Development, Genius, Mars)

Keshet Studios: 3 (The Brave, Wisdom of the Crowd, untitled HBO series)

Davis Entertainment: 3 (S.W.A.T., The Blacklist,  Timeless)

Original Films: 3 (S.W.A.T., Happy!, Preacher)

Bad Robot: 3 (Lovecraft Country, Westworld, Castle Rock)

Alloy Entertainment: 3 (You, The Originals, The 100)

Fremulon (Mike Schur): 3 (The Good Pace, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Master of None)

Jerry Bruckheimer TV: 2 (Lucifer, The Amazing Race)

Fake Empire: 2 (Dynasty, Marvel’s Runaways)

Timberman/Beverly: 2 (SEAL Team, Elementary)

True Jack Prods: 2 (Rise, The Path)

Perfect Storm: 2 (S.W.A.T., Scorpion)

Le Train Train: 2 (Claws, Angie Tribeca)

The Tannenbaum Co.: 2 (Young & Hungry, Tracy Morgan series)

Little Stranger: 2 (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Great News)

Vertigo Entertainment: (The Exorcist, The Son )

3 Arts Entertainment: 10 broadcast (Ghosted, The Resident, Champions, The Good Place, Great News, Marlon, Man With A Plan, The Mick, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Handmade Project), plus 14 cable/digital series, including Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Mindy Project, Master Of None, Baskets, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Silicon Valley and Insecure.