Kat Coiro is making her pilot directorial debut. Deadline confirms that Coiro will helm “Daddy Issues,” the Fox comedy pilot produced by Liz Meriwether (“New Girl”) and written by and starring Erin Foster (“Barely Famous”). The project centers on the relationship between two sisters and their womanizing father.
Sister Andi, played by Foster, “is perpetually single and has become her dad’s wingman, and Jane, the perfect one … is married and takes joy in Andi’s failures,” Deadline summarizes. The sisters’ “lives are turned upside down when their dad starts dating Andi’s 30-year-old best friend from college.”
Coiro previously directed feature “And While We Were Here,” episodes of “The Mick,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce,” and several shorts.
As the source notes, Coiro’s hire is a positive sign for the 2018–19 season. 2017–18 saw no pilots helmed by first-time female pilot directors.
Including “Daddy Issues,” eight 2018–19 pilots are being directed by women (so far). Pamela Fryman will helm four of them: Gloria Calderon Kellett’s social media-inspired “History of Them” (CBS); Diablo Cody’s unconventional high school reunion story “Most Likely To” (ABC); “Abby’s” (NBC), which centers on the regulars at the titular bar; and “Friends-in-Law” (NBC), about two dudes who are forced to hang out when their respective best friends get married. All four projects are comedies.
Julie Anne Robinson (“The Good Place”) will helm an untitled NBC comedy from Amy Poehler and Aseem Batra (“Scrubs”) based on Orli Auslander’s book “I Feel Bad: All Day. Every Day. About Everything.”
Lake Bell (“In a World…”) will direct and star in “Bless This Mess,” this year’s third comedy pilot from Meriwether after “Daddy Issues” and “Single Parents.”
Liz Friedlander has been tapped to direct the ABC police drama “The Rookie.” As of writing this, Friedlander is the only woman confirmed to be helming a drama pilot for 2018–19.
Of 2017–18’s 41 drama pilots, only “Las Reinas” was helmed by a woman, Friedlander. Five comedy pilots were women-directed: Fryman took on CBS’ “9JKL,” and “Distefano,” and “Real Life,” Robinson directed ABC’s “Losing It,” and Beth McCarthy Miller helmed Fox’s “Amy’s Brother.”