311 Productions Taps Gerard Bocaccio As Head Of TV, Readies Scripted Slate

EXCLUSIVE: 3311 Productions is expanding beyond financing and producing independent films with a foray into scripted television.

Seasoned television executive Gerard Bocaccio has come on board to lead the company’s TV efforts as head of 3311 Television, which has assembled an inaugural slate that includes projects from Todd Field; Devin Conroy; Chris Case, Jason Biggs and Joel David Moore; BenDavid Grabinski and Dave Green; as well as Sara St. Onge.

“We see an opportunity to expand on what we already do in independent film: develop, produce and finance artist driven stories with smart budgets and the potential for global audiences,” said 3311 Prods. CEO Ross Jacobson.

The company will be finance TV development but is not expected to deficit finance production, at least not right away, and will be exploring international co-productions. Content-wise, 3311 Television is looking to span all genres — comedy, drama, mini/limited series — and develop for all platforms, broadcast, basic and premium cable as well as streaming. The company’s TV projects are designed to have the same creative sensibility as its films, focusing on non-cynical stories told from original perspectives.

This marks a return to the executive ranks for former eOne, FX, Discovery and Blumhouse exec Bocaccio who recently worked on HBO’s Sharp Objects and AT&T Audience Channel’s You Me Her and Ice.

Bocaccio joined 3311 Productions in late 2018 and, along with development executive Tracy Stevens, has been ramping up a slate of TV projects that will be taken out soon. They include The Millers, from director Todd Field; a Devin Conroy-created show around Hall of Fame baseball broadcaster Jon Miller raising two young girls on his own; Irrelevant, from Chris Case, Jason Biggs and Joel David Moore, about down-and-out celebrities in Hollywood; Coyote, from BenDavid Grabinski and director Dave Green, about a disenfranchised member of an accomplished family who wins the Lottery and decides to become a superhero; and Mother Of God, from writer-director Sara St. Onge, about a single mother who learns that her son thinks he may be God.

“We certainly have, and will maintain a diverse slate, but I’ve always been enamored by the idea of auteur driven storytelling,” said Bocaccio. “It’s invariably a film conceit, but with television continually melding comedy and drama to reflect the authenticity of real life, the 3311 sensibility and skillset is perfectly suited to my personal interest in championing true, IndieTV voices.”

In film, 3311 Productions recently completed production on The Violent Heart, from director Kerem Senga, marking their second film producing alongside 21 Laps. 3311 will next produce Naked Singularity with Scott Free, Tony Ganz and Dick Wolf, and Anton Corp.