Wendy Calhoun has scored her second network sale of the season. According to Deadline, NBC has put an hourlong mother-daughter FBI drama from the former “Empire” scribe, Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman’s Brownstone Productions, and Warner Bros. TV. Calhoun signed an overall deal with the latter in June of this year.
Inspired by the true story of Marlo McGuire Graham and Ethel McGuire, “Strong Justice” follows the FBI’s first-ever mother-daughter duo. Special Agents Etta and Memphis Strong “strive to be exceptional investigators despite sexist and racist hurdles. Both women tackle dangerous cases and fight for equality over two time periods, but their individual pursuits reveal truths that threaten to ruin their role-model legacy,” the source writes.
Calhoun penned the project and will exec produce alongside Banks and Handelman.
Just over a week ago came word that Calhoun has a gender-flipped TV reboot of “Lean on Me” in the works at The CW. The project centers on a female principal working at a public high school in Akron, Ohio.
“Nashville,” “Revenge,” and “Justified” are among Calhoun’s previous credits.
The source adds that she “participates with diversity and gender equality in entertainment initiatives,” such as Google’s Computer Science for Diversity in Media events and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
Banks was a producer on the “Pitch Perfect” franchise. She made her feature debut with the second installment of the a cappella saga.
“Shrill,” Hulu’s upcoming adaptation of Lindy West’s memoir, is exec produced by Banks. “SNL’s” Aidy Bryant stars as an aspiring blogger. The “Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later” actress has a number of other projects in the works, including exec producing “Hoops,” a basketball drama in development at NBC, and directing a “Charlie’s Angel’s” reboot.
