Using movies as fodder for TV shows may not be a new phenomenon - it has produced more than one massive hit (M_A_S*H included) - but its increasing frequency is undeniable. Now writer / producer Jason Katims has his eye on 2002’s Hugh Grant pic About A Boy as the inspiration for a single camera sitcom.
The film, which was written and directed by Paul and Chris Weitz from Nick Hornby’s novel, found Hugh Grant as Will Freeman, a bloke who enjoying his bachelor life too much to settle down. Until, that is, he meets oddball kid Marcus (a young Nicholas Hoult) and his troubled mother Fiona (Toni Collette). Slowly but surely, Will shows Marcus how to stand up for himself, and in return is taught to live less like a child himself.
Katims’ planned show will follow a similar origin story, with a womanising man-child greeting his new neighbours: an odd lad and his kooky single mother.
Katims is no stranger to putting movie concepts through the TV mill – he successfully developed Friday Night Lights with Peter Berg and then ran the show. He was also able to turn 1989’s comedy Parenthood into a series for the second time with the result surviving longer than the 1990 attempt.
And talking of second attempts – this will be only the latest stab at turning About A Boy into a series. US network Fox tried with Patrick Dempsey taking on the Grant role and Ken Kwapis directing back in 2003, which got no further than a pilot presentation. We have a feeling Katims’ version will go a little further.