EXCLUSIVE: Paul Wesley, an actor who played a vampire on The Vampire Diaries, is executive producing a series project about a vampire who wants to be an actor. The untitled comedy, which landed at Fox for development in a competitive situation, centers on a determined 25-year-old vampire who struggles with running the family business for his murderous and suffocating vampire parents while trying to chase his dream to become an actor.
It is written by Unstable co-creator Victor Fresco and will be directed by Liz Friedlander (The Rookie). The duo and Wesley executive produce with Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment and Tracy Katsky of KatCo. Fox Entertainment is the studio.
The team of the project are all interconnected via past collaborations. Fresco created the Netflix horror comedy series Santa Clarita Diet, which he executive produced with Kaplan and Katsky. Friedlander and Wesley have been friends since she directed episodes of The Vampire Diaries. Wesley was a star and Friedlander director/executive producer on Kapital’s CBS All Access psychological thriller drama series Tell Me A Story, and Friedlander recently directed episodes of Kapital’s Starz’s horror comedy series Shining Vale. Wesley also has a producing deal with Kapital for his Citizen Media.
The idea for the vampire comedy came from Friedlander, Wesley and Kaplan who shared it with Fresco. The pitch garnered multiple offers before the it was set up at Fox. Jessie Abbott and Dylan Hammalian will oversee for Kapital.
Comedy veteran Fresco also created Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Better Off Ted, among other series. He is repped by WME and attoirney Jared Levine.
Friedlander recently directed Apple TV+’s Bad Monkey and Netflix’s upcoming The Waterfront. She directed the pilots for such series as Tell Me A Story, The Lincoln Lawyer and The Equalizer. She is repped by CAA and attorney Howard Abramson.
Wesley has been recurring on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as James T. Kirk. he is repped by IAG, Anonymous Content and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
