Sri Rao Penned Comedy from Kelly Ripa & Mark Consuelos' Milojo Productions In Development For ABC

Deadline is reporting that a new multi-camera comedy from Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' Milojo Productions is currently in development for ABC.

The project, will be penned by GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT head writer Sri Rao and will follow "a free-spirited single mom who's raising two kids in Brooklyn and running a small design company with three of her best friends. Things take a turn when her conservative 16-year-old son starts interning at her company, intent on transforming the family business into a global empire."

Former ALL MY CHILDREN stars Ripa and Consuelos will executive produce along with Rao for ABC Studios. The comedy will join other Milojo projects currently underway including a non-scripted project in the early stages of series production, as well as other digital projects.

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- NBC, Electus in Development for Trio of Telenovelas Including THE BLACK WIDOW From Sri Rao

NBC, Electus in Development for Trio of Telenovelas Including THE BLACK WIDOW From Sri Rao

NBC has partnered with multimedia entertainment studio Electus, an operating business of IAC, for three telenovelas to be developed with an eye towards airing one as a 13-episode series, with multiple episodes running each week, much like an actual telenovela.

This is but one of many innovative scheduling strategies NBC is considering.

The first project in development, THE BLACK WIDOW, from writer Sri Rao, is an adaptation of the highly popular Venezuelan telenovela LA VIUDA JOVEN, which premiered in 2011 and set ratings records. The 142-episode series was broadcast around the world.

Rao's most recent writing credit was for GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT. He will co-executive produce with Electus' founder-creator Ben Silverman and Jimmy Fox, Head of Creative Development.

The other titles for development will be announced at a later date.

NEWS ROUNDUP: Randolph Mantooth Reflects on Soap Career; Plus, J.R. Martinez Marathon, Ne-Yo on 90210, Linda Dano

Soap alum Randolph Mantooth: "I never had more fun in my life"
"I hear a lot of people say, 'You did a soap opera?' Yeah, I did. And I loved every moment of it. I had the time of my life. But then I was offered a soap opera out in California (GENERAL HOSPITAL), and I hated it. Hated it. I did everything in my power—and I was making a lot of money—I did everything in my power to get out of it. I told my agent, 'You’ve got to get me out of this. I don’t want to do this. I hate it.' And they said, 'Now, now.' And I said, 'Look, if you don’t get me out, I’ll get me out, and I don’t think you’re going to like the way I’m going to get me out.'"

"I did LOVING, which was a little half-hour show that nobody watched. And I never had more fun in my life. … I would literally swing my feet out of bed every morning and go, They’re paying me! … You’re in New York City, being paid a lot of money to be around very beautiful women, doing a role that you absolutely love, and you get to theater at night. That doesn’t happen in L.A."

INTERVIEW: NIGHT SHIFT Head Writer Sri Rao

I spoke with GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT Season 2 head writer Sri Rao this week and found the conversation very enlightening. Much praise has been heaped upon the man for NIGHT SHIFT's turnaround in its second, and possibly last, season. The characters made sense, the history of the daytime GH was honored and a much needed fresh perspective was welcomed to the soap world.

In addition to our discussion about NIGHT SHIFT, our conversation focused a lot on gay characters on soaps, and television in general, and the lack of diversity we see on our screens.

We Love Soaps: I have to ask the same question I ask any soap writer I speak with, who do you think your audience was for NIGHT SHIFT?
Sri Rao: I thought our audience was me, basically. For the first time on a project I have written, I actually wrote for myself, without really worrying too much about demographics or target audience, or what it is I think they are going to like, or I think they want to see. And I think in the end it actually ended up working out the best of any experience I've had. It was a big lesson for me too - write what you want to see, and what you like, and other people will probably feel the same way.

It worked out in this case because I am such a longtime fan of GENERAL HOSPITAL and I wanted to write the show that I wanted to see if given the opportunity. I was writing for me and my mom, and neither one of us watch GH regulary anymore. NIGHT SHIFT is on at night and I remember when the first season premiered I saw ads for it. I was interested as a former GH viewer because I wanted to see what they were going to do with it. And I figured there are probably other people out there with a history like me. GH is one of those shows that probably has one of the strongest and longest histories in terms of relationships with viewers. Even if people have never watched a soap in their life, they know about GENERAL HOSPITAL or Luke and Laura. So I thought not only about the current viewer of GENERAL HOPSITAL, but the lapsed viewer, and what would get them interested in coming back to Port Charles and watching the show in a different way. In some ways, it's a lot more conducive to viewers like myself. I don't have time to watch at 3 o'clock anymore, but if it were once a week at night, I probably would check it out and so would my mom. So those were the questions I had in my mind when I started crafting the stories.

We Love Soaps: I tend to think the soap audience is a lot smarter than the networks give them credit for.
Sri Rao: The viewing audience is a lot more savvy today than they were 10 or 15 years ago, 20 years for sure. Prime time dramas have evolved tremenously in that amount of time. If you compare to what was popular back in the early 80s, such as a show like ST. ELSEWHERE, which was great and groundbreaking and amazing. If you compared it to ER, GREY'S ANATOMY or HOUSE, the medical drama in prime time has evolved, and the viewers have evolved with that. I think that is something soap writers need to take in account so we're not still writing in the same way or same voice or same format that we did in the 80s.

We Love Soaps: What do you feel the differences are between a show that airs in the daytime versus prime time or late night? And on broadcast TV versus a cable network?
Sri Rao: I don't know if there's that much of a difference. Technically, yes, there is a difference, in broadcasting standards and what you can say and do at night versus day or cable versus broadcast. I'm just not one of those writers who is looking to be provocative for the sake of being provocative. I think that it's just about realistic storytelling. And I don't think we need language or sex or violence in any way, other than what's needed for the story. That could be and should be the same for daytime and prime time.