Sep 10, 2015

Tradecraft: ABC Buys Whistleblower Thriller Canary

I'm not entirely sure from the scant description that Canary is a spy show, but I'm making an educated guess that it is. Deadline reports that ABC has bought Prison Break co-E.P. Zack Estrin's pilot Canary. According to the trade, "Described as 'Homeland meets Erin Brockovich,' Canary follows a woman who risks everything to help a whistleblower come forward with secret information that will impact the lives of millions." What makes me think it will be a spy show? Well, the Homeland name-check, for one, plus the story similarities to Citizenfour director Laura Poitras' relationship with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, plus the general Snowdenmania of our time. (In addition to the Oliver Stone movie Snowden due out at Christmas with Joseph Gordon Levitt in the title role, James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are developing their own Snowden movie, and Matt Damon cites the whistleblower as his and Paul Greengrass's chief inspiration to revisit Jason Bourne.) Of course, for all we know Estrin's character could be blowing the whistle on Big Pharm or tobacco or the telecomm industry. We'll probably have to wait and see if ABC ends up shooting the pilot, which Estrin will write, before we learn more.

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