Fox, ex-Mandalay president in first-look deal

Fox Television Studios has signed former Mandalay Television president Elizabeth Gables Stephen to a first-look deal that will look to create cable dramas.

The agreement with Gables Media has already spawned a pair of series for development. Timeline is a one-hour USA drama based on books from Jennifer Lynn Barnes; and Magic City Memoirs, which is based on a 2011 film of the same name.

Timeline’s plot follows a female astronaut who returns to Earth after a six-month mission to find her entire life effect8ively rewritten. Gables Stephens executive produces, as she does on Magic City Memoirs, which is written by Liz Benjamin.

That project follows three wealthy, influential Cuban-Miami families whose sons are facing the fallout from secrets their fathers’ harboured attempting to reach the ‘American Dream’.

Besides running the TV division Peter Guber’s Mandalay (Brotherhood), Gables Stephen held development and production positions with The Avnet/Kerner Company and Hollywood Pictures.

Before launching Gables Media, she was executive VP of RHI Entertainment (now known as Sonar Entertainment).

“Elizabeth focuses on ‘messed-up’ characters stuck in complicated relationships while in the midst of pressurised stories, and that is very appealing to FTVS,” said FTVS president David Madden.

“Fox Television Studios is totally in sync with my vision for Gables Media in developing and producing the kinds of personal stories that resonate with audiences,” added Gables Stephen. “Our focus will be on emphasising the writer’s voice and on creating character and relationship-driven programming.”

Gables Stephen and Madden worked together on feature film The Hand that Rocks the Cradle while the former was at Hollywood Pictures.