EXCLUSIVE: Latenight queen Chelsea Handler is making a move in primetime with a comedy project based on her books, which, in a competitive situation, landed at NBC with a put pilot commitment. The project titled after one of Handler’s books, Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, is described as an autobiographical multi-camera comedy based on Handler’s life in her twenties. It hails from Warner Bros. and Tom Werner’s studio-based Werner Entertainment. Dharma & Greg co-creator Dottie Zicklin and Julie Larson, both with UTA, will write the adaptation. They will executive produce the project with CAA-repped Handler, who won’t be starring, her producing partner at Borderline Amazing Prods. Tom Brunelle and Werner Entertainment’s Werner and Mike Clements. The comedy will be centered on a twentysomething woman named Chelsea who won’t have the same profession as comedian/author Handler but will carry a lot of the traits in her character as depicted in Handler’s 3 best-selling autobiographical books: My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea and Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. The compilations of humorous essays about Handler’s everyday life, family, friends and romantic/sexual relationships will also be used as source material for stories in the TV project. Handler, who has hosted Chalsea Lately on NBC’s soon-to-be-corporate sibling E! since 2006, recently signed on to star in and produce After Lately, a half-hour semi-scripted comedy for the channel, which will follow the backstage goings at her latenight talk show. She also just landed a juicy role opposite Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy and Chris Pine in the McG-directed feature This Means War. This is Zicklin’s second project to sell in a competitive situation this season. She also sold a comedy spec to Fox.
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