Gail Mancuso’s name probably sounds familiar to you — chances are you’ve seen at least a couple episodes she’s helmed during her 25-year career as a television director. Now, as Deadline reports, the woman behind classic episodes of “Modern Family,” “Roseanne,” “Friends,” “30 Rock,” and more will take her talents to the big screen. Mancuso has signed on to direct “Besties,” a women-centric road trip comedy from DreamWorks and Universal.
Written by Cassie Daniels and Mark Bartosic, “Besties” is a “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”-esque story about a woman “who embarks on an epic road trip with her best friends to break up the wedding of her childhood crush after discovering a long-lost love note,” Deadline details. Daniels and Bartosic’s spec script was the subject of a bidding war last summer before it was acquired by DreamWorks/Amblin Partners and Montecito Pictures.
Universal will handle “Besties’” distribution, and production is expected to begin later in 2017. No word on the cast yet.
Mancuso won the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series two years in a row for her work on “Modern Family.” She took home the award in 2013 for the episode “Arrested” and in 2014 for “Vegas.” Mancuso has also received three DGA Award nods for directing the long-running ABC sitcom. “Scrubs,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Black-ish,” and “Fresh Off the Boat,” are among her many other credits.
