Lifetime has ordered another pilot, and this time it’s the Renee Zellweger project Cinnamon Girl. Zellweger is producing the pilot, which is a period drama set in late 1960s/early 1970s focusing on a group of young female friends.
According to Deadline, Lifetime fast-tracked the project through development, which started in October. Zellweger is executive producing along with Anthony Tambakis, who co-created it with her.
Cinnamon Girl is set in Los Angeles and is the coming-of-age tale of four girls who find themselves embroiled in the era of free love, new music, drugs and social upheaval. The four, Cassie, Lola, Junie and Lou are friends growing up amidst the exciting Los Angeles music scene of the era. Apparently it’s at least partially based on Zellweger’s own experience in her journey from the small town in Texas where she grew up to the fame and fortune of her life today. She and Tambakis also drew from a fascination with the area in that time period and are co-writing together.
Zellweger has worked with Lifetime before, on a 2008 movie called Living Proof which she executive produced. Cinnamon Girl will be a little different if it’s picked up to series, attaching her for a longer term to the network. Lifetime has just ordered a couple of other pilots as well, The Secret Lives of Wives and The Witches of East End. President Nancy Dubuc referred to Cinnamon Girl as being “a game changer” for the network, but it seems they’re working hard to change the game on all fronts, moving towards more scripted series.
