MGM TV & Nigel Lythgoe To Reboot "Fame" as New Scripted Series
By NELLIE ANDREEVA
Tuesday August 28, 2012


MGM Television has teamed with "American Idol" and "So You Think You Can Dance" executive producer Nigel Lythgoe for "Fame", a scripted series based on the 1980 MGM film and 1982 MGM TV series that chronicled the lives of talented students paying their dues on the road to success.

Lythgoe will serve as executive producer on the project, along with Nigel Lythgoe Prods. president Kary McHoul, Segars Media’s Charles Segars (National Treasure) and Chad Gutstein.

According to the producers, the new project is a re-imagening of the original film and series that will strive to embody their spirit. Set against the backdrop of today’s unprecedented access to the world of celebrity, it will expose the gritty struggle, heartache and pain endured in the search for stardom.





“This is a great opportunity for MGM to partner with world-class producer Nigel Lythgoe, whose unmatched experience with telling the true stories of talented people striving for success will set 'Fame' apart,” said Roma Khanna, President Television and Digital, MGM.

The project is part of MGM TV’s strategy to mine the company’s library for properties suitable for series adaptations/remakes.

Alan Parker’s 1980 movie was already remade as a feature with the 2009 Fame.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/mgm-tv-nigel-lythgoe-to-reboot-fame-as-new-scripted-series/

Yay, another remake. :rolleyes:

"Fame" Reboot Picked Up at Lifetime from Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe
by Rebecca Iannucci
June 9, 2015


Head up to the attic and pull your leg warmers out of storage, because "Fame" is coming back to TV.

Lifetime has picked up a reboot of the ’80s series — which has been in the works since 2012 — with "So You Think You Can Dance‘s" Nigel Lythgoe attached to executive-produce.



Per The Hollywood Reporter, the revival — much like the original 1980 film and follow-up NBC series — will revolve around a group of adults struggling to balance the pressures of life at a performing arts college with their personal lives.

Josh Safran (Smash, Gossip Girl) will write the script and executive-produce alongside Lythgoe, Chad Gutstein and Charles Segars. MGM Television will produce in conjunction with A+E Studios.



"Fame" originally ran from 1982 to 1987 and starred Debbie Allen and Carlo Imperato. Most recently, an updated version of the film was released in 2009, starring Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth.

http://tvline.com/2015/06/09/fame-revival-lifetime-nigel-lythgoe/

TV's "Fame" Reboot Won't Shy Away from 1980 Movie's "Darker" Themes, Says Nigel Lythgoe
July 11, 2015
by Michele Amabile Angermiller


The "Fame" reboot is inching closer to becoming reality, albeit slowly.

Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe tells The Hollywood Reporter that the first script -- penned by "Gossip Girl" and "Smash" alum Josh Safron -- is in and being read.





The drama produced by MGM Television and A+E Studios has been picked up by Lifetime although it's still a long way from filming, never mind a completed pilot.

But should the show go to series, it will, like its early 1980s originators, once again focus on a group of young adults balancing career pressures while striving to succeed at an elite performing arts school.





Lythgoe offers that the themes of the original "Fame" still resonate today.

“The way you seek out fame by going on the internet and posting it yourself," he explains. “It’s amazing. It’s instant fame and it’s over in moments.”





He should know. As a key player in shows that made overnight stars of ordinary people, Lythgoe has plenty of material to pull from.

“I went to MGM with a lot of stories and ideas from kids that I worked with,” Lythgoe says. In particular, he was inspired by the story of Marko Germar, a season eight contestant on "So You Think You Can Dance", who appeared on the show suffering gunshot wounds from a bank robbery.

“If you remember Marko the dancer, he had one arm slightly shorter than the other, but he lived," Lythgoe recounts. “He said, ‘I still got the bullet in my shoulder.' These stories are just incredible.”





But Lythgoe says he also wants the show to feature the "darker" themes of the 1980 Alan Parker film. "What it takes to achieve fame and what it takes to hold on to fame," he says in his best elevator pitch.

It was Lythgoe’s enthusiasm that won over television executives, he adds. “MGM said, 'If you find the correct writer, we will let you have it.' And I found Josh Safron."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tvs-fame-reboot-original-movie-807501