EXCLUSIVE: Ben Younger (Snowfall) has been tapped to direct and executive produce ABC drama pilot The Company You Keep, starring Milo Ventigmilia and Catherine Haena Kim, from 20th Television.
The project, which is based on Korean format My Fellow Citizens that ran for more than 30 episodes on KBS2, follows con man Charlie (Ventimiglia) and undercover CIA officer Emma (Kim). A night of passion leads to love between the pair, who unknowingly are on a collision course professionally. While Charlie ramps up the “family business” so he can get out for good, Emma’s closing in on the vengeful criminal who holds Charlie’s family debts in-hand — forcing them to reckon with the lies they’ve told so they can save themselves and their families from disastrous consequences.
William Fichtner also stars.
The Company You Keep is being written and exec produced by Julia Cohen. Ventimiglia will exec produce via his DiVide Pictures banner alongside Russ Cundiff with Deanna Harris as producer.
Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu also will exec produce via his Electric Somewhere label with his partner Caitlin Foito. The Resident showrunner Todd Harthan and The Good Doctor co-exec producer Lindsay Goffman are also exec producing the project, which comes from studio 20th Television, where Ventimiglia’s DiVide Pictures is based.
Younger directed the first two episodes of this season of Snowfall for FX, which premiered to a series record of 4.3 million viewers. He also directed the pivotal ninth episode of season 3.
On the film side, Younger wrote, directed, and produced Bleed For This, which premiered at the 2016 Telluride Film Festival and screened at TIFF. The film stars Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart, Katey Sagal, and Ciarán Hinds. Younger also wrote, produced, and directed Prime, starring Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman, as well as the cult classic film Boiler Room, starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, and Ben Affleck. Younger is repped by CAA, Map Point Management, and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman.