Per TVGuide News:

It came thisclose to a move out of the Lone Star State for year two of NBC's critical darling Friday Night Lights. "Texas didn't follow through on the rebates promised when we based the production in Austin," says Aimee Teegarden, who plays the coach's daughter Julie. "NBC said, 'we're going to move.' It was talks about money. Arizona and New Mexico were both anxious to have us and offered incentives, so I was expecting our show was going to leave Austin."

"Aimee's right," says executive producer Jason Katims. "We were scouting new location bases and were courted by the other states' film commissions, but the network and the appropriate people in Texas settled things. I can't provide specifics, but it worked out so we could remain in Austin."

And what did Teegarden get out of this? "I got a new apartment in Austin," replies the Southern California native. "There was no reason to keep my original place when I heard we might move to New Mexico or Arizona."

Teegarden celebrates her milestone 18th birthday on Oct. 10, five days after the launch of Friday Night Lights' second season. For those who can't wait, Universal's home video division is soon to launch the first season on DVD. — Reporting by David Walstad

• 0 Comments

For Daily Variety, executive producer Jason Katims recollects the tumultuous process of turning the pilot of NBC's critical hit "Friday Night Lights" into a full-blown series.

"I don't know anything about football."

That's me talking to Peter Berg, who had just written and directed the pilot for "Friday Night Lights." I was interviewing for the job of showrunner, the person who would be responsible for taking on the somewhat Herculean task of expanding Pete's vision to series. During the rest of our meeting I told Pete I'd never set foot in Texas, never lived in a small town and had little connection to the strong Christian values so central to Pete's film about a small-town in Texas obsessed with its high school football team.

As fate would have it, I got the job. Before I had time to explain to my wife and children that I would be working late every night, most weekends and would be watching a whole lot more football than usual, I was on a plane to New York for NBC's upfront presentation, stopping on my way at Barnes and Noble to pick up a copy of "Football for Dummies."

Read More...

Read more • 0 Comments

Read more • 0 Comments