Musical TV Drama from SMASH's Zadan & Meron Heading to E!?

Deadline reports that the E! network is close to giving the greenlight to a muscial scripted pilot from writer Krista Vernoff, songwriter Diane Warren and 'Smash' creators Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.

The project, titled 'Songbyrd', follows Lauren Byrd, a character who is loosely based on top hitmaker Warren. According to the report, "Lauren, writer of hit love songs, employs a small staff, including her sister, to enable and manage her eccentric, yet wildly successful process. But when her ex-fiance reveals himself to be less than the man she remembers, she realizes that she can no longer live in the past and must find a new, true inspiration for her sake and those around her."

Uni TV will co-produce Songbyrd along with Universal Cable Productions. Academy Awards producers Zadan and Meron executive produce with Vernoff. Diane Warren will serve as a consulting producer.

Zadan and Meron served as executive producers for the 2002 "Best Picture" winner "Chicago," which won Oscars in 6 of the 13 categories in which it was nominated. Their credits also include the features "Footloose" (2011), "Hairspray," and "The Bucket List." Zadan also produced the original "Footloose" (1984).

Zadan and Meron's work in television includes the series "SMASH" and such movies as "A Raisin in the Sun" and "Steel Magnolias."

For Broadway, they recently produced the Tony Award winning revivals of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and "Promises, Promises."

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