Super producer Gail Berman is prepping two new TV series created by women with her production company, The Jackal Group.
Berman, who has been a show business executive since 1989, is teaming up with writer-director-producer Theresa Rebeck (“Smash”) on “Love and Murder” and with comedian-writer-actress Allyn Rachel (“Selfie,” “Loosely Exactly Nicole”) on “Ridin’ Dirty,” the New York Times reports. Berman’s producing credits include “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” “Mercy,” and “Deception.” She is also executive-producing the upcoming TV musical adaption of “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” starring “Orange Is the New Black’s” Laverne Cox.
According to the “Love and Murder in the Hamptons” logline, the series is about “a young man from a poor upbringing [who] finds himself caught in a love triangle between a woman from a similar background and a woman from one of the richest families in the Hamptons.” Rebeck is writing the series for Lifetime, and Berman will serve as an executive producer.
Deadline reports that “Ridin’ Dirty” is a half-hour FX comedy set in “the world of horse jockeys.” It centers on Vicky Gursky, “the baddest chick in the business, who is determined to become the first woman in history to win the Triple Crown.” Rachel created and will pen the series, while Berman and Melanie Truhett will co-executive produce.
Berman signed a first-look deal with Fox 2000 last year. The NYT article describes how she has a history of supporting and advocating for women-created or centric stories; Berman was actually inspired by Dolly Parton. “Buffy” was a part of Parton’s Sandollar Productions. When Parton found out Berman wasn’t getting a fair share of the royalties, she personally gave Berman a check. Ever since, Berman has had a reputation as “a woman going out of her way to do right by another woman.”
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again” will premiere on Fox October 20.