Comedy Writer Hilary Winston Switches To Drama With ‘Wildfire’ At NBC

Nellie Andreeva and Denise Petski

Thu, October 10, 2019 at 10:31 PM UTC

1 min read

NBC is developing a drama called Wildfire, created by Hilary Winston, which is timely given the current California wildfire season.
The show will focus on an idyllic community in California called Whispering Bells that is hit by a devastating wildfire, revealing hidden secrets.
Hilary Winston, known for her work in comedy, is making her first foray into one-hour drama with Wildfire, after developing multiple projects with Sony Pictures TV.

EXCLUSIVE: NBC has put into development Wildfire , a drama from Bad Teacher creator Hilary Winston and Sony Pictures TV, where Winston is under an overall deal.

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Written and executive produced by Winston, Wildfire is timely given that we are at the height of the California wildfire season and crews in Northern California are currently battling a blaze in San Bruno Mountain despite unprecedented preventive power outages.

Echoing last fall's devastating Paradise fire, in Winston's Wildfire, when a devastating wildfire hits the idyllic community of Whispering Bells, Calif., some are spared, others are not. The real danger, however, lies in the small town's secrets smoldering just below the surface.

This marks a first one-hour drama sale for Winston who so far has worked exclusively in half-hour comedy. Another veteran comedy TV writer, D.J. Nash, successfully made the switch to drama two years ago with ABC's A Million Little Things.

During her decade-plus tenure at Sony TV, Winston has developed five projects that have gone to pilot, one of which, Bad Teacher , became a series for CBS. Winston also has worked on a number of Sony TV comedy series, including Dr. Ken, Marry Me, Community and Happy Endings. On the film side, Winston was a writer on The Lego Ninjago Movie and is a writer on DreamWorks Animation's The Bad Guys , set for release in 2021.

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