ABC lures Lurie

Screenwriter and director Rod Lurie, best known for movies The
Contender (with Joan Allen) and The Last Castle (with James
Gandolfini), has signed a production commitment with ABC for a one-hour
drama.

DreamWorks Television and Touchstone Television, with whom Lurie has a deal
through a joint venture, will develop the pilot.

The show, about a female FBI agent and a mobster, was initially developed for
NBC.

Lurie is not a stranger to ABC, having developed pilot Capital City
for the network last year.

Lurie's new show is expected to find many of the same players returning,
including possible leads Leslie Bibb, once of The WB Television Network's
Popular, and Brian Goodman, who also appeared in The Last
Castle.

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.