NBC Is Spike Lee's New Joint

Zap2It.com | July 18, 2006

Spike Lee

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Filmmaker signs deal to develop drama series

LOS ANGELES -- Two-time Oscar nominee Spike Lee is taking a rare foray into series television, signing a deal with NBC to develop a drama series.

The director of "Inside Man," "Do the Right Thing" and "Malcolm X" will develop the show for the network and its sister studio, NBC Universal TV. He'll serve as an executive producer on the project and may direct a pilot episode, but the studio will search for another writer to pair with Lee.

"Spike Lee was one of the first people that I wanted to make a priority for the network," says Katie O'Connell, who heads drama development at NBC. "I wanted to be aggressive about bringing in a high-profile filmmaker who fits in so well with NBC's traditional brand of challenging, quality dramas."

Lee has done a number of long-form projects for television, most recently "When the Levees Broke," a documentary about Hurricane Katrina that premieres on HBO in August. He also directed the Showtime movie "Sucker Free City" and "A Huey P. Newton Story," among others.

His involvement in ongoing series, though, has been scant. Lee directed the pilot for the new CBS show "Shark" and two episodes of The N's miniseries "Miracle's Boys," but that's it. "Sucker Free City" was at one point slated to become a series, but Showtime never went forward with it.

Lee's Oscar nominations came in 1990 for writing "Do the Right Thing" and 1998 for best documentary feature for "4 Little Girls." The latter also earned an Emmy nomination in 1998, after it aired on HBO.