Courteney Cox played the role of Gale Weathers in four SCREAM films over the course of fifteen years, and nine years after the release of SCREAM 4 she is now set to return to the horror genre, having signed on to star in the Starz horror-comedy pilot Shining Vale.
Sharon Horgan, creator of the HBO series Divorce, and Jeff Astrof, co-creator of the NBC series Trial & Error, crafted the story for Shining Vale together, based on an idea from executive producer Aaron Kaplan. Astrof then wrote the script, telling the story of
a dysfunctional family that moves from the city to a small town into a house in which terrible atrocities have taken place. But no one seems to notice except for Pat (Cox), who’s convinced she’s either depressed or possessed – turns out, the symptoms are exactly the same.
A little more information on the character Cox will be playing:
Patricia “Pat” Phelps is a former “wild child” who rose to fame by writing a raunchy, drug-and-alcohol-soaked women’s empowerment novel (aka lady porn). Fast-forward 17 years, and Pat is clean and sober but totally unfulfilled. She still hasn’t written her second novel, she can’t remember the last time she had sex with her husband, and her teenage kids are at that stage where they love their vile friends and want you dead. She was a faithful wife until her one slip-up: a torrid 15-night stand with a hot, young artist/handyman/musician neighbor. In a last-ditch effort to save her marriage, she and her family move from the “crazy” of the city to a large, old house in the suburbs where evil and humor collide.
Shining Vale is being produced by Warner Bros. Television and Lionsgate, in association with Astrof's Other Shoe Productions, Horgan and Clelia Mountford's Mermaid, and Kaplan's Kapital Entertainment. Astrof, Horgan, and Mountford, serve as executive producers alongside Kaplan and Dana Honor.
Dearbhla Walsh will be directing and executive producing the pilot. Walsh has been directing television for twenty years, with credits on shows like Penny Dreadful, Fargo, The Punisher, and The Handmaid's Tale.
The set-up of a family dealing with a potentially possessed mother sort of reminds me of the great show Santa Clarita Diet, where the mom became a flesh-eating zombie. Ash vs. Evil Dead proved to me that a horror-comedy can be awesome on Starz, so I hope Shining Vale will deliver.
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed