Casting Directors Announced for New Pilots from 'Shameless' Show Runner

John Frank Levey and Melanie Burgess will cast the one-hour drama pilot "Bad Girls" for NBC, Back Stage has confirmed. John Wells, the showrunner for Showtime's "Shameless" and creator of "E.R.," is executive producer for this adaptation of the long-running British crime drama of the same name.

"The project follows the ins-and-outs of a group of unlikely women in a federal prison: a scandalous female warden, her new protégé and a host of inmates – some mothers, some friends—who struggle with loyalties to people on the inside and the outside," according to "The Hollywood Reporter." Shed Media and John Wells Productions are producing, in association with Warner Bros. Television. The pilot is scheduled to shoot in Los Angeles in March.

Back Stage also confirmed that Levey and Burgess will cast the pilot for Wells' other project in development this season, "Prodigy Bully," a half-hour single-camera comedy for Fox, written by "Glee" co-star Mike O'Malley. The show is about a young boy genius who must adapt to a new private school, but uses his brains and brawn to get whatever he wants. Production is scheduled to begin in early April in Los Angeles.

Together, Levey and Burgess have also cast the TV series "Southland," "Torchwood," and "Shameless," among others.