from the hollywood re****ter
'Virtuality' takes off at Fox
By Nellie Andreeva
Fox has given the green light to "Virtuality," a two-hour back-door
pilot from "Battlestar Galactica" mastermind Ronald D. Moore.
The sci-fi project, from Universal Media Studios and producers Gail
Berman and Lloyd Braun, is set aboard the Phaeton, Earth's first
star****p. It revolves around its crew of 12 astronauts on a 10-year
journey to explore a distant solar system. To help them endure the
long trip and keep their minds occupied, NASA has equipped the ****p
with advanced virtual-reality modules, allowing the crew members to
assume adventurous identities and go to any place they want. The plan
works flawlessly until a mysterious "bug" is found in the system.
"It's very much about what's fantasy and what's reality; what we do to
escape our lives and what actually institutes our lives; are these
things very different," UMS president Katherine Pope said.
"Virtuality" is a brainchild of Braun, who shaped up the idea with
Berman, his producing partner at BermanBraun.
The two approached several writers, including Moore, who sparked to
the premise and quickly developed it into what became the concept for
"Virtuality." He brought in with him "Battlestar" writer-producer
Michael Taylor. The two penned the script and are exec producing the
project with Berman and Braun.
Under BermanBraun's first-look deal with NBC Universal, "Virtuality"
was pitched to UMS and NBC. UMS, which produces "Battlestar," quickly
came on board. After NBC passed on the project, considered to be too
sci-fi for the network, it was taken to Fox.
"For all the times we've read that a project has a ?unique point of
view,' it rarely applies," Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly
said. "This time it does ... in spades."
The project, slated to begin production in July, reunites Berman with
Fox, where she was entertainment president from 2001-05.
In Fox and UMS, "we are confident that ?Virtuality' is in the right
hands," Berman and Braun said.
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