EXCLUSIVE: Lifetime has put in development Princess of Whales, a drama project from 24 and The Kennedys writer-producer Stephen Kronish and Cold Case star-turned-producer Kathryn Morris. The project is based on the true story of Marcia Hartman and follows the exploits of one of Las Vegas’ most successful casino hostesses, whose job is to bring in the super-high rollers and make them spend as much as possible. But her lavish lifestyle and life-of-the-party personality reveal a dark side that threatens to destroy her. Morris and her development executive at Revival House Josh Gold saw an article about Hartman, tracked her down and secured the rights to her story. “She is the most fascinating, complex female character we had seen,” said Morris, who has no plans to act on the potential series. She took the idea to seasoned showrunner Kronish, who came on board to help develop the project and to write the script. Kronish, Morris and Gold are executive producing with Prospect Park‘s Paul Frank, Jeff Kwatinetz and Rich Frank. Fox TV Studios is producing. Former 24 co-executive producer Kronish, repped by Paradigm, wrote all eight hours of The Kennedys and executive produced the miniseries, which is nominated in the best TV movie or miniseries category at the Emmys. He also is attached as showrunner to action drama project Sandbox, which is in development at Cinemax. Following her seven-year stint on CBS’ Cold Case, Morris has returned to movies for acting (she co-stars in the upcoming Moneyball) while keeping her toe in TV through producing via her company Revival House. Her deal was brokered by Mosaic and Sloane, Offer, Weber.
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