Showtime recruits Bad Robot’s Roadies

US cable channel Showtime has ordered a comedy pilot about music roadies from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions.

Roadies will follow a successful rock band through the eyes of their crew members. Oscar-winner Cameron Crowe wrote the pilot and will direct and executive produce.

Winnie Holzman (My So-Called Life) is showrunner, while Abrams and Bryan Burk will co-executive produce. Abrams’ Bad Robot is producing along with Vinyl Films and Dooley & Company Pictures, in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Crowe said he and Hollywood director du jour Abrams had been seeking to produce Roadies for “some time. We’re fans of crews, those workers up on the rigging towers, or walking feverishly with eight phones on their belt. Those quietly devoted people live huge lives, they’re often the real keepers of the flame”.

Crowe is best known for feature films such as Ridgemont High and Jerry Maguire, while Abrams is behind TV series including Lost, Alias and Fringe, and is directing the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII.