Patricia Heaton has inked a deal to star in, and executive produce, a new comedy project at Fox, avingagiraffe can confirm.
The new multi-camera project has received a script-to-series commitment and will be shot in Nashville although plot details have not been revealed.
Heaton who currently splits her time between Nashville and Los Angeles. “I’m looking forward to working with Fox on this series,” Heaton said. “I have gotten to know and love Nashville over the years while visiting my son and my sister there. It’s a wonderful city with an incredible quality of life, along with a vibrant culture and so much creative energy. I want to help support and grow the entertainment production business there and shooting a TV series in Nashville would provide hundreds of jobs for local cast and crew.”
Heaton is, of course, best known for starring in the hit CBS multi-cam “Everybody Loves Raymond,” for which she received seven Emmy nominations, winning twice. She also starred in the ABC single-cam family comedy “The Middle.”
The story which first broke in Deadline says that along with Heaton, David Hunt will executive produce under their FourBoys Entertainment banner. Adam Griffin will also executive produce along with Aaron Kaplan and Michael Lohmann for Kapital Entertainment. Fox Entertainment and Kapital will produce. Jessie Abbott will be the executive in charge for Kapital.
“Patricia is an incredible talent who is comedy royalty; and the opportunity to partner with her on this project was too good to pass up,” said Michael Thorn, president of entertainment for Fox Entertainment. “We firmly believe in the promise of broadcast comedy and can attain success in the space with new and innovative models that give series more leg room to grow. With Patricia at its core, together with Kapital and Nashville’s efficient infrastructure, this project represents the next step in evolving our live-action comedy strategy and further building FOX’s portfolio of IP.”
Deadline first reported on this project.