NBC has ordered the drama pilot “Drama High” from “Friday Night Lights” and “Parenthood” producer Jason Katims, TheWrap has learned.
Based on the book of the same name by Michael Sokolove, and also life rights of Lou Volpe, “Drama High” centers on an extraordinary working class high school drama department and the incredible students who come alive under a passionate teacher and family man whose dedication to the program galvanizes the entire town.
Katims will write and executive produce. “Hamilton” producer Jeffrey Seller will also executive produce along with Michelle Lee and Flody Suarez. This is the first NBC project for Seller who, along with Suarez, signed a production deal with Universal Television last year.
The drama joins a list that also includes and untitled medical drama from writer Warren Leight, the military drama “For God and Country,” Jenna Bans’ suburban crime drama “Good Girls” and virtual reality detective thriller “Reverie,” from “Extant” creator Mickey Fisher.
On the comedy side, the network has ordered 10 new episodes of “Will & Grace” straight to series, and also ordered to pilot a project based on the early life of Kourtney Kang — about a girl growing up in a mixed-race family in Philadelphia. NBC has also ordered a series about a cynical Ivy League professor who becomes a high school teacher produced by Seth Meyers and Lorne Michaels, and then there’s “The Sacket Sisters,” produced by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock.