UPN Gives Will Smith The Go-Ahead

Enterprise network UPN last week ordered a comedy pilot from Oscar-nominated actor Will Smith.

The untitled project is based on the family life of Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Produced by Warner Brothers TV and Overbrook Entertainment, the concept promises a "contemporary look at the modern family dynamic where a husband and his second wife raise his son from his first marriage with his ex-wife's involvement."

Betsy Borns, an Emmy-nominated writer-producer who has worked on Friends and Roseanne, wrote the script for the pilot episode. Borns will executive produce with Smith, Pinkett Smith and James Lassiter.

Will Smith is no stranger to television production, having cut his teeth as the star of the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which he also executive produced. Since then he has gone on to star in blockbusters such as 'Independence Day,' 'Men in Black' and 'Ali,' which won him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Pinkett Smith, the actor's second wife, has appeared in 'The Nutty Professor' and 'Scream 2,' and will shortly be seen in 'The Matrix Reloaded' and 'The Matrix Revolutions.'

The untitled project is the eleventh pilot greenlit by UPN for its 2003-2004 season in the last two months, bringing the network's orders to five comedies and six dramas (story). However, the nature of television means only a handful of these projects will ever make it to series. The Smiths aren't the only big names working on UPN pilots for next season, with others including horror master Wes Craven and television supremo Aaron Spelling, who are behind the futuristic Kamelot and the remake of Hotel, respectively.

Further information can be found in the original Hollywood Reporter article.

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