Amy Poehler is turning her attention to animation. The actress and prolific producer is reteaming with former Parks and Recreation producer Mike Scully and his wife/producing partner Julie Scully for an untitled animated comedy at Fox. The network has ordered a script and pilot presentation for the project.
The potential series centers on the family and friends of 15-year-old Duncan Harris, an average kid with dreams of being a UFC fighter, tech billionaire, video game champ — or any job where you make a ton of money and don’t have to wear a tie. Poehler is attached to voice multiple characters.
Poehler came up for the idea. Mike and Julie Scully, who together worked on Fox’s long-running animated hit The Simpsons, will pen the script. All three will executive produce the project, which is a co-production between 20th Century Fox Television, where Mike Scully is under an overall deal, and Universal Television, where Poehler’s Paper Kite banner is housed. 3 Arts’ Dave Becky will also exec produce.
This marks the first sale of the development season for Paper Kite, which also exec produces Comedy Central’s Broad City and Hulu’s Difficult People. Poehler will next co-host and exec produce (via Paper Kite) NBC’s upcoming competition series The Handmade Project. The company also has a number of projects in the works, including The Baby, Schooled and Edison. On the feature side, Paper Kite recently acquired rights to the book Moxie.
Poehler is with WME, 3 Arts and Sloane Offer; Mike Scully (The Carmichael Show) is with UTA.
The Poehler project comes as Fox has had success in the animated space with The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers and Family Guy. The network has also had preliminary conversations to reboot former hit King of the Hill. Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Dana Walden told reporters earlier this month that the network was developing a few other animated projects this season.
“We have five or six things in development right now that I’m excited about. … It’s hard to live up to that block and those shows right now are so iconic, they’re so connected to our brand,” said the exec. “It’s hard to just slide an animated show into that lineup and have people have the same goodwill that they have for a show that’s been on for almost 30 seasons now.”
