The Sundance Channel released its 2013/2014 development slate Wednesday, revealing a roster of projects that includes new dramas from "Boardwalk Empire" star Steve Buscemi, Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford and "This American Life" host Ira Glass.
"Behind the Sun," which is being produced by Buscemi, Stanley Tucci and Wren Arthur via Olive Productions, follows the Georges, a single-child family living in mid-'80s Malibu, Calif., who discover that their teenage son has a rare allergy to the sun.
The series will explore "the shifting notions of parenting, and how the delayed adolescence and personal ambitions of the adults within this world are throwing their children into psychological and physical jeopardy," Sundance said. Dylan Gary ("Tell Me You Love Me") is writing the project.
Redford, meanwhile, will produce "Valentines" through his Sundance Productions company with Laura Michalchyshyn. Based on an Olaf Olafsson novel, the project follows a high-powered New York attorney and his three attractive daughters and delves into their "upscale homes, cosmopolitan social circles and volatile personal relationships to discover that not all is what it seems." Fred Berner is also producing, with Olafsson writing.
Glass is teaming with his "This American Life" cohort Alissa Shipp to produce "T," about a transgendered male who's adjusting to life as a man after recently undergoing gender reassignment surgery. The story will cut between his current life as Terrence and his former existence as lesbian Mt. Holyoke College student Thora in the mid-2000s. "In Treatment" duo Anya Epstein and Dan Futterman are writing.
Sundance's 2013/2014 production slate also includes "The Descendants," about a sheriff struggling to keep his family together while policing two clashing communities; and "Death in the Modern Age," about a suburbanite who attempts to fake his own death and establish a new identity after falling on hard times.
