Los Angeles, CA – Storyscape’s Bob Cooper has set the one-hour scripted series HOT ART for development at Ovation TV. The pilot will be written by Simeon Thornton, based on the book HOT ART: Chasing Thieves and Detectives Through the Secret World of Stolen Art by Canadian journalist Joshua Knelman and marks the first original scripted series in development for Ovation TV.

The series will be produced by Cooper for Storyscape, with Sandy Shenkman overseeing development for the company. Cate Weber will oversee development for Ovation TV. HOT ART is a drama series that offers a fresh, contemporary take on the world of art crime. Set in London, the centre of the global art market, the show follows a squad of elite Scotland Yard undercover police agents tasked with solving art crimes and catching the criminals who aim to keep one step ahead of them.

Thornton is a UK-based writer with a number of projects in development in the U.S. and Great Britain, including the scripted series Sovereign which is in development at The Forge.

“We are thrilled to work with Bob Cooper at Storyscape Entertainment on the first scripted series we are developing at Ovation TV. Through their stewardship, we look forward to seeing HOT ART brought to life to join the rest of our high-quality programming such as VERSAILLES,” said Charles Segars, CEO of Ovation TV.

Thornton is repped by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates in the UK. Knelman is repped by Paradigm and Samantha Haywood of Transatlantic Agency on the publishing side. Rob Rader and Tamara Arakelyan negotiated on behalf of Ovation TV along with Richard Marks of The Point Media.