Paul Downs Colaizzo is developing two dramas for CBS, including a series with Ryan Seacrest and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges attached as exec producers, Variety has learned.
Colaizzo, who’s under overall deal with CBS Television Studios, will serve as an EP and writer on an untitled Pittsburgh-set cop drama exec produced by Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly, plus an Atlanta-set gang series, “The Down Beat,” with Seacrest, Ludacris and Nina Wass exec producing.
The untitled project follows a charismatic police officer who, after a tragic scandal, sets out to rebuild his personal life and rewrite the rules of policing in his Pittsburgh neighborhood. Timberman and Beverly, who are also under an overall deal with CBS TV Studios, will produce by way of their Timberman/Beverly Prods. shingle.
“The Down Beat,” also hailing from CBS TV Studios and Ryan Seacrest Productions, tells the inspiring story of a former business mogul on a warpath for personal retribution who is determined to take down two warring gangs in the mean streets of Atlanta by offering possible teen recruits an unlikely refuge with a high school marching band. Seacrest, Ludacris and Wass (“Shades of Blue,” “Mixology”) are all non-writing EPs.
Colaizzo, a playwright, was discovered by the studio, which was behind his first pilot order for medical drama “LFE” this past cycle. The project ultiamtely did not go to series, as CBS instead filled the medical genre with “Code Black”.
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Colaizzo is repped by ICM.
