MTV Studios (part of the Entertainment and Youth Group), a unit of ViacomCBS, announced today that Academy Award and Golden Globe®-winning creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller will reimagine the iconic “Clone High” television series with Emmy®-nominated co-creator Bill Lawrence.
Together with MTV and Erica Rivinoja, the trio will reunite to develop and produce new episodes of the animated series, which was widely regarded as a time capsule of the early 2000s with its loving satire and wry parody of emo culture. Rivinoja, who was a writer on the original series will serve as showrunner and will co-write the pilot with Lord and Miller.
Like the original, “Clone High” will follow prominent historical figures who have been cloned and placed back in high school, including Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, John F. Kennedy and more, as they face the trials and tribulations of normal teenage life.
“We thrilled to reunite with Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Bill Lawrence to re-imagine this cult classic as we rapidly grow our portfolio of beloved and iconic adult animation series,” said Chris McCarthy, President, ViacomCBS Entertainment and Youth Group.
Lord and Miller began their careers with writing, directing and executive producing “Clone High” alongside Lawrence in 2002. The pair went on to win an Academy Award for “Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse” and have originated feature franchises such as “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs“, “21 Jump Street” and “The Lego Movie,” all of which have grossed more than $3.3 billion at the global box office and prove pair’s extraordinary range and ability to deliver on compelling ideas. On the television side the pair were behind the comedy series “The Last Man on Earth”, which was written by and starred Will Forte. The series was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards, including a nomination for Lord and Miller for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. They are currently behind the animated comedy series “Bless the Harts” which is getting ready to debut its second season on Fox and is from creator Emily Spivey.
Lawrence went on to create the Emmy-winning “Scrubs” and “Cougar Town.”
Lord and Miller are represented by UTA and Ziffren Brittenham LLP. Lawrence is represented by ICM Partners and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman.
About Lord and Miller
It has been a remarkable few years for Lord Miller who have a rich first-look production deal with Universal where they develop features in both comedy and drama that will hopefully serve as reboot material for future generations. Lord Miller has several projects in various stages of development including the live-action feature tent-pole “The Last Human“ for Sony, Fox’s “Artemis” based on the novel by Andy Weir, a sci-fi adventure feature based on an original idea by Weir for Universal and an untitled adaptation of Weir’s forthcoming novel ‘Project Hail Mary.’ The pair is next producing the upcoming animated feature Connected which will be released October 2020.
On the television side, Lord Miller has a massive first look deal with Sony Pictures Television where they continue to develop live-action and animated series in both comedy and drama and is involved with developing a suite of television series based on Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters. It was recently announced that Lord Miller is behind the upcoming Apple series “The Afterparty” which is a murder-mystery comedy set at a high school reunion afterparty. Each of the eight episodes will feature a retelling of the same night told through a different character’s perspective, each with its own unique visual format and film genre to match the teller’s personality.
About Bill Lawrence
Bill Lawrence is an award-winning television writer, producer and director. His latest project through his Doozer Productions is WBTV’s “Ted Lasso” for Apple, starring Jason Sudeikis. Sudeikis and Lawrence serve as co-creators and executive producers on the series which launches in August. Lawrence most recently served as executive producer on the ABC series “Whiskey Cavalier” starring Scott Foley and Lauren Cohan. He created and executive-produced “Scrubs” and co-created “Cougar Town”, “Spin City” and “Clone High.” “Scrubs”, which was twice nominated for an Emmy Award, was also named a Future Classic by the TV Land cable network and was the winner of both a Humanitas Award and an Imagen Award.
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