Disney taps Lizzie McGuire creator for family series

US cable network Disney Channel has ordered a kids- and family-focused series from the creator of Lizzie McGuire, Terri Minsky.

Single-cam series Andi Mack is scheduled to launch in 2017, with a 12-year-old newcomer, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, starring as a girl whose life is turned upside down when her unpredictable older sister returns in the hope of getting her life together.

Production begins in Salt Lake City, Utah, this autumn, with Minsky attached as creator. Lilan Bowden, Lauren Tom, Joshua Rush and Asher Angel will star alongside Lee.

Minsky created Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire, a live-action sitcom that run for 65 episodes between 2001 and 2005. The series launched the career of Hilary Duff and spawned a licensing and merchandising cottage industry.

Minsky was also behind Less Than Perfect and The Geena Davis Show for broadcaster ABC, and more recently developed Finding Carter for MTV.

“I could have done this show any number of places, but the only one where it would really matter is Disney Channel,” said Minsky of the new series.
Meanwhile, Disney Channel has commissioned twelve original short-form movies from a variety of producers, directors, writers and industry talent in genres such as irreverent comedy and mystery adventures.

The talent includes writers and directors Jonathan Langager, Joe Swanson and Camille Stochitch; feature film writers Ryan Landels and John Swetnam; comedian Dahéli Hall; choreographer Christopher Scott; editor and director Viet Nguyen; actor Kent Boyd; director Francisco Lorite and his producing partner, actor Freddy Rodriguez; and stunt coordinator Mitchell Gould.

The movies will debut in a ‘free period’ on the Disney Channel app before rolling out daily on the Disney Channel YouTube page between Friday, August 5 and Thursday, August 18.

The movies are Abby Normal, from Landels; Arcanum, from Gould; Exchange from Hall; Free Period, from Boyd and Zoe Katz; Hamburger High from Swanson; How to Catch a Ghost, from Scott; Nelson Bixby Takes On the Whole Wide World, from Lorite and Rodriguez; Nu Skool Records, from Swetnam; Parker and the Crew, from Nguyen; Penelope in the Treehouse, from Langager; Trunk, from Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky; and Virtual High, from Camille Stochitch and Alexander Berman.