"Usual Suspects" scribe in Mexican mystery
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - An unusual TV suspect is gearing up production on a mystery drama series called "Persons Unknown" -- the Oscar-winning writer of "The Usual Suspects."
Christopher McQuarrie is among the executive producers of the show, which producer Fox TV Studios is shooting with Mexican media giant Televisa.
Fox TV and Televisa will begin shooting 13 episodes on October 27 in Mexico for the U.S. marketplace. Additionally, Televisa will air "Persons" in Mexico, and Fox also is negotiating with a leading Italian broadcaster.
The project revolves around seven strangers who wake up in a deserted town with no recollection of how they got there, and then realize that they are watched by omnipresent security cameras and that there is no escape. To survive, they must come together to solve the puzzle of their lives.
"Everything that everybody thinks it is, it isn't," said series showrunner Remi Aubuchon, who previously created NBC's "The Lyon's Den." He will also executive produce, as will McQuarrie's wife, Heather McQuarrie.
"Persons" will be offered to U.S. networks with several episodes in the can.
"Persons Unknown" is the second series to enter production under a new Fox TV Studios production model in which projects go straight to series and are produced independently in foreign countries with international broadcast partners. "Mental," a medical drama starring Chris Vance and Annabella Sciorra, is now filming in Bogota, Colombia.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
