Friends with Benefits
Encyclopedia
Friends with Benefits was a telenovela
planned for the American
television network
MyNetworkTV
. Twentieth Television
was developing this limited-run serial
. It was based on a popular Latin American series.
Amanda is a small-town girl. Yet with nowhere else to turn, she commences on a journey into a dangerous new world: the glistening mecca of South Beach. She dives into the sexy and seductive nightlife scene to track her mother's killer.
With her natural beauty and charm, Amanda takes South Beach by storm, and becomes the focal point of a volatile love triangle between two of South Beach's most eligible bachelors: Derek Hawk and Richard Westley. Derek is a nightclub impresario -- and his father is the lead suspect in the murder of Amanda's mother. His rival, Richard, is a powerful and successful attorney who shares a turbulent history with the Hawk family. Amanda finds herself tangled in a web of lies, cover-ups and yet more murder.
planned to run the serial
for 65 hour-long episodes, airing weekday evenings, with a recap on Saturdays. It was to be filmed at Stu Segall Productions
in San Diego.
The show began pre-production on January 8, 2007, with directors Dennis Dimster, Jeff Fischer, Mitch Marcus and Jeremy Stanford, and filming of the first 20 episodes was to start in April. It was set to premiere on June 5, 2007 — and casting calls were sent out — but production was postponed. Jean-Pierre Parent was cast as Pierre, a gay French photographer. MyNetworkTV
's March 1, 2007 announcement that it stopped developing scripted content spelled an end for both the series and the network's slate of telenovelas
.
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
planned for the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
. Twentieth Television
Fox Television Studios
Fox Television Studios, Inc. is the TV production arm of the News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group, as well as being the production arm of Fox and a production arm of 20th Century Fox Television, Inc., itself a division of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation...
was developing this limited-run serial
MyNetworkTV telenovelas
The MyNetworkTV telenovelas were Fox Television's attempt to create a successful low-cost programming franchise by adapting Spanish-language telenovelas for U.S. viewers. While originally planned for syndication, the format became the original lineup of MyNetworkTV in 2006...
. It was based on a popular Latin American series.
Story
Christine Summers, a 50-year-old African-American natural beauty, was a long-time resident of Crystal Cove, a southern Florida cove. She had simple tastes and a passion for her restaurant, which her mother started thirty years ago. She worked hard to instill her strong values in her daughter Amanda. After refusing to sell her property to a group of greedy developers, she turned up dead.Amanda is a small-town girl. Yet with nowhere else to turn, she commences on a journey into a dangerous new world: the glistening mecca of South Beach. She dives into the sexy and seductive nightlife scene to track her mother's killer.
With her natural beauty and charm, Amanda takes South Beach by storm, and becomes the focal point of a volatile love triangle between two of South Beach's most eligible bachelors: Derek Hawk and Richard Westley. Derek is a nightclub impresario -- and his father is the lead suspect in the murder of Amanda's mother. His rival, Richard, is a powerful and successful attorney who shares a turbulent history with the Hawk family. Amanda finds herself tangled in a web of lies, cover-ups and yet more murder.
Development
Originally, MyNetworkTVMyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
planned to run the serial
MyNetworkTV telenovelas
The MyNetworkTV telenovelas were Fox Television's attempt to create a successful low-cost programming franchise by adapting Spanish-language telenovelas for U.S. viewers. While originally planned for syndication, the format became the original lineup of MyNetworkTV in 2006...
for 65 hour-long episodes, airing weekday evenings, with a recap on Saturdays. It was to be filmed at Stu Segall Productions
Stu Segall Productions
Stu Segall Productions is a studio facility located in San Diego, California.-Filmings:The studio is used primarily for filming television series and movies in the San Diego area...
in San Diego.
The show began pre-production on January 8, 2007, with directors Dennis Dimster, Jeff Fischer, Mitch Marcus and Jeremy Stanford, and filming of the first 20 episodes was to start in April. It was set to premiere on June 5, 2007 — and casting calls were sent out — but production was postponed. Jean-Pierre Parent was cast as Pierre, a gay French photographer. MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
's March 1, 2007 announcement that it stopped developing scripted content spelled an end for both the series and the network's slate of telenovelas
MyNetworkTV telenovelas
The MyNetworkTV telenovelas were Fox Television's attempt to create a successful low-cost programming franchise by adapting Spanish-language telenovelas for U.S. viewers. While originally planned for syndication, the format became the original lineup of MyNetworkTV in 2006...
.