File this one under 'big swing.'
Fox has handed out a pilot order to an untitled drama about a substitute teacher who, with three students, attempts to re-enact The Goonies.
The Bold Type and Parenthood alum Sarah Watson will pen the script for the project, which hails from Warner Bros. TV, Fox's content accelerator SideCar and Amblin TV. Here's the formal logline: After failing to make it in New York and carrying a heavy secret with her, Stella Cooper returns to her distressed automotive hometown to substitute teach. She finds inspiration, hope and ultimately salvation when she agrees to help three students who are pursuing their filmmaking dreams by putting on an impossibly ambitious shot-for-shot remake of one of their favorite movies —The Goonies. Over the course of the season of the potential series, their passion will inspire a town in desperate need of hope in this love letter to the power of cinema, storytelling and dreams.
Greg Mottola (Superbad, HBO's The Newsroom) will executive produce and direct the pilot. SideCar's Gail Berman will also exec produce alongside Lauren Shuler Donner, Richard Donner and Amblin's Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank. The Goonies, a cult favorite that was released in 1985 with a story by Steven Spielberg, was directed by Richard Donner and produced by Amblin. The adventure-comedy starred Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, Martha Plimpton, Joe Pantoliano, Jeff Cohen and Jonathan Ke Huy Quan.
The untitled project is Fox's eighth pilot order overall and fourth drama of the season. The network is expected to order possibly one more. The film re-enactment drama marks the latest creative risk for the independent broadcast network and comes after Fox Entertainment launched an aftershow spoof called What Just Happened over the summer. That series, which is not expected to return, featured Fred Savage as the host of a real aftershow about a fake scripted show. The push is part of a larger effort by Fox to go back to its risk-taking originals (like The Simpsons and Married … With Children) that helped solidify the network.
Watson is repped by Verve and Hansen Jacobson.
Keep track of all of this season's pilot orders, castings and eventual series orders with The Hollywood Reporter's handy guide.
