Tradecraft For September 21, 2007

FX Spies Uhls

The FX network has first-rate cop shows (The Shield is hands-down the best drama on television), crook shows, con-man shows and lawyer shows; isn't it time for a spy show? Fight Club writer Jim Uhls seems to think yes! According to Variety, Uhls is developing Paranoid, "an edgy thriller with themes of privacy and spying" for the cable network. The trade goes on to describe the series as "a modern-day The Parallax View centering on a surveillance agent who himself may be spied upon, all set against Patriot Act-America" and quote sources as saying, "a pilot deal is likely but has not officially been ordered."

Agent Zigzag

Variety also reports that New Line has won a bidding war for the screen rights to the Ben Macintyre book Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love and Betrayal. Tom Hanks will produce. According to the trade, "it's the true story of Edward Arnold Chapman, a career criminal who spied on the Germans for the British in WWII."

The Horowitz Project

The Hollywood Reporter reveals the title of Alex Rider author Anthony Horowitz's previously reported American TV project: Raffik. The trade calls it "a character-driven one-hour" about "an Albanian detective sent to the US whose enthusiasm for everything American inspires and baffles his new Los Angeles police partners." Darren Star co-produces.