Indie film faves Laura Dern and William H. Macy are headed to pay cable, landing series orders at HBO and Showtime, respectively.
Dern’s pilot "Enlightened" has been picked up to series by HBO, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The half-hour comedy, from writer Mike White, has Dern playing a women who decides to lead a more perfect life after a medical insight.
The show, which joins a roster of upcoming HBO projects too long to recount, will have a 10-episode first season, THR said.
Meanwhile, Showtime has ordered 12 episodes of "Shameless," the Macy-led pilot from Warner Bros. TV-based John Wells Productions and Paul Abbott, who created the British series on which it’s based.
Macy plays the alcoholic dad of a large blue-collar Chicago clan. Emmy Rossum co-stars, and Alison Janney has a recurring guest role. Justin Chatwin, Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, Emma Kenney, Cameron Monaghan, Jeremy White and Laura Slade Wiggins make up the ensemble cast.
The project had been in development for nearly five years.
While HBO has been on a greenlight bender in recent months, Showtime has been more cautious spendthrift with series pickups, rejecting a batch of pilots last year.
Both "Enlightened" and "Shameless" will begin production this summer.
