MTV to make U.S. version of hot U.K. teen series

MTV is creating a U.S. version of the hit U.K. teen series, "Skins," which will be shot in Baltimore with a cast of unknown actors and actresses.

According to an article on Variety.com, "Bryan Elsley, who co-created the show in Britain, will exec produce the Stateside version with Charlie Pattinson and George Faber of Company Pictures ('Generation Kill'). MTV is committed to producing Elsley's to-be-written pilot script."

"It's been two years that I've been personally involved in trying to get this here to the network," said MTV senior veep of series development Liz Gateley.

"Skins" made its debut in January 2007 on the E4 channel, the U.K's youth geared channel, and episodes of the series began airing on BBC America in 2008.

"That's when the bidding for this show heated up," Gateley said. "We had gotten our fingers on it at MTV well before it was even a huge phenomenon (abroad). . . . The fact that the U.S. numbers were good only furthered my desire to have it. I was very worried about it going elsewhere."

Pattinson then noted that Company Pictures wanted to measure the series' power before franchising it to the U.S. This apprehension lies in the fact that prior adaptations of Company projects, such as "Young Person's Guide to Being a Rock Star" and "Life Is Wild," ran aground when brought to U.S. shores.

The Variety.com article then discussed some of the particulars of the U.S. version of the series, "Following the show's lead in the U.K., 'Skins' will feature teenagers not only in the cast but in the storytelling. Locking in Elsley to shepherd the new crew was key to completing the deal. . . . While there will be obvious cultural changes in the program's content related to its move to the U.S., Pattinson said no radical departures are planned for the outset."