Warners, Lin off and away to 'Otherland'

Warner Bros. is going to "Otherland," obtaining feature privileges to Tad Williams' sci-fi book series and configuring it with Serta Lin to create. Studio has drawn on John Scott III to script the film, in line with the four books released by DAW-Penguin USA between 1996 and 2001 as "Town of Golden Shadow," "River of Blue Fire," "Mountain of Black Glass" and "Ocean of Silver Light." Story for that adaptation is placed a century later on and follows several unpredicted heroes who must escape an assassin and get through epic digital mobile phone industry's to solve a conspiracy that intends to eliminate humanity. Seanne Winslow Wehrenfennig at Lin Pictures assists as co-producer and oversee for Lin Pictures. Lin's a producer on "A Virtual Detective: Bet on Shadows" and it is in publish-production on period drama "Gangster Squad," starring Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, and Sean Penn, directed by Ruben Fleischer. He's also creating "Lego: the Bit of Resistance," written and directed by Chris Burns and Phil The almighty, with Warners planning for a 2014 release. Scott's zombie script "Maggie" made the very best 10 from the 2011 Black List called the top title from the 2011 Bloodstream List, the very best 13 most-loved unproduced scripts within the horror, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, and dark comedy/drama genres. "Maggie" is within pre-production with Henry Hobson pointing, and Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, Matt Baer, and Trevor Kaufman creating. Scott can also be adapting Isaac Asivmov's "Caves of Steel" for Fox, also with Hobson mounted on direct. WME signifies the "Otherland" book privileges. Scott is repped by CAA and handled by Trevor Kaufman. Contact Dork McNary at dork.mcnary@variety.com

WB, InStyle celebrate Globes

Sean Combs and Sofia Vergara high-five at WB party. Gus Van Sant and Kelsey Grammer Charlize Theron and Viola Davis The floor was shaking (literally) over at the Warner Bros./InStyle bash, as Tilda Swinton, Kelsey Grammer and the cast of "Modern Family" danced the night away.Seth Rogen, host of next month's Indie Spirit Awards, said he felt "inspired" by Ricky Gervais. "I'm kind of scared now. He was hilarious," Rogen said.Matt LeBlanc could be seen passing around his Globes trophy on the back patio. "All I gotta do tomorrow is get on a plane to London, so I can deal with the hangover," LeBlanc said.

Paul Bettany talks The Avengers

When reading the above headline, you might momentarily have been confused. "Wait, Paul Bettany isn't in The Avengers," you might have thought. But you'd have been wrong.Bettany voices the computer programme known as JARVIS, a role he also played in the two Iron Man movies. Although according to Bettany, he occasionally struggles to remember that fact himself."I forgot I was in Iron Man," reveals the British star. "Someone said, 'I loved you in Iron Man'. I said, 'You've got me mixed up with someone else.' I forgot I did the voice because it was only 30 minutes in a recording studio laughing my arse off!"And as for his work on The Avengers, Bettany isn't afraid to admit that it was the easiest money he'd ever made."I have no input with [The Avengers] other than spending half an hour sitting in a studio doing the voiceover," he explains. "It's the best job I've ever had. I say the lines and they pay me money."A refreshingly honest take on one of the most hyped movies of the year, there. You can listen to Bettany's dulcet tones when the film arrives in UK cinemas on 27 April 2012.

Goodfellas Television Show Finds A House

Mad Males network AMC developing itThings happen to be awfully quiet because the first announcement, in September 2010, of the Goodfellas TV adaptation in development. We started to suspect it may have been fitted having a concrete heavyweight coat and left to sink to the foot of a handy river. But good(fellas) news! The show has been put in development by Mad Males/Breaking Bad cable network AMC.Nicholas Pileggi, who authored the film according to his book Wiseguy, is formally confirmed aboard the show, likely to write the pilot with Homicide: Existence In The Pub veteran Jorge Zamacona.There is no word on which a part of Henry Hill's saga the series would cover, but when it causes it to be towards the air, there's lots of scope to inform the storyline from the Lucchese crime family from the beginning within the sixties to the fall.And it is only some of the period drama that Pileggi continues to be focusing on: he's also got Rob Lamb cooking away, which informs the real story of the cowboy-switched-Vegas sheriff within the same era. That demonstrate has James Mangold mounted on direct the pilot, therefore it remains to appear whether Pileggi will finish up splitting his time between two shows...

Watercooler: Is There a New Romance Brewing on Happy Endings?

Happy Endings Did you guys catch that last night?!For their long-awaited return, Happy Endings' Chicago crew stuck several skewers into the cliched silliness of big-screen rom-coms by juxtaposing Brad and Alex's secret love of Heigl-caliber crapfests with Dave and Penny's face-off over dating one another's therapists. But amid all the spot-on spoofery ("and that's how I almost married my best friend's fiancé!"), there was one honest moment that had us wondering if we were witnessing the birth of a new couple among our Happy family.After their respective dates collapsed - in standard-issue romantic-comedy chaos at a restaurant - Dave and Penny wandered home together, passing the requisite fountain bedecked in twinkling lights, as they laughed about their own tragic love lives. And for just a moment, it seemed like they might just...something. Kiss? Silently acknowledge an attraction? Break into a slow dance, as a gentle rain started to fall? Instead, they just kept on walking, leaving us to wonder if the writers are setting the stage for some sort of Chandler-Monica pairing. Think about it. He's Alex's ex, she's his roomie's best friend. It screams rom-com. But unlike most of those cliché-riddled movies, this combo could actually be screamingly funny.What do you think? Should Dave and Penny give it a go?Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

ABC originals roll on Wednesday

'Modern Family' came 14. million audiences Wednesday on ABC.On the evening once the competition mostly broadcast repeats, ABC's selection of originals -- brought as always by ''Modern Family'' , centered the rankings race. CBS did very good using its latest ''I Have That a Lot'' special, but auds did not appear for Fox's ''Mobbed.'' Based on preliminary national estimations from Nielsen, ABC saw all its programs grow using their season lows in December, beginning with ''The Middle'' (3. rating/9 be part of grown ups 18-49, 10. million audiences overall) and ''Suburgatory'' (2.9/8 in 18-49, 8.7 million audiences overall), which brought the night's opening hour in most key groups. The internet then increased at 9 p.m. with ''Modern Family'' (5.6/14 in 18-49, 14. million audiences overall) after which remained easily on the top at 9:30 p.m. with ''Happy Endings'' (3.3/8 in 18-49, 7.7 million audiences overall). Capping the evening, ''Revenge'' (2.5/7 in 18-49, 8. million audiences overall) easily beat the demo scores for repeat dramas on CBS and NBC. For that evening, ABC won in most key demos in addition to total audiences, rising a lot more than 20% in most groups versus. the comparable evening last year if this also broadcast all originals. CBS finished second, receiving targeted mileage from its ''I Have That a Lot'' special (2.3/6 in 18-49, 8.3 million audiences overall) and repeats of dramas ''Criminal Minds'' (2./5 in 18-49, 8.two million audiences overall) and ''CSI'' (1.7/5 in 18-49, 8.a million audiences overall). Fox adopted a repeat of ''Glee'' (.8/2 in 18-49, 2.4 million audiences overall) using the premiere of limited-run series ''Mobbed'' (1.2/3 in 18-49, 3. million audiences overall) though soft, it did grow in the other half-hour. And NBC were built with a quiet evening with encores of ''Up All Night'' (1./3 in 18-49, 3.5 million audiences overall), ''Whitney'' (1./3 in 18-49, 3.a million audiences overall), ''Harry's Law'' (.8/2 in 18-49, 4.six million audiences overall) and ''Law and Order: SVU'' (1.1/3 in 18-49, 3.7 million audiences overall). The net's new comedy pairing of ''Whitney'' and ''Are You There Chelsea'' bows in a few days. CW broadcast a set of ''The Secret Circle'' repeats, calculating b .3/one in 18-49 contributing to 900,000 audiences overall. ''One Tree Hill'' returns because of its final season on Wednesdays beginning in a few days. Preliminary 18-49 earnings for that evening: ABC, 3.3/9 CBS, 2./5 Univision, 1.5/4 Fox, 1./3 NBC, 1./2 CW, .3/1. As a whole audiences: ABC, 9.4 million CBS, 8.two million NBC, 3.8 million Univision, 3.5 million Fox, 2.7 million CW, .9 million. Contact Ron Kissell at ron.kissell@variety.com