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King of TV

After X-Files, Sopranos and Alias, director David Nutter prepares for his latest TV series ‘Scarlet’

So who is David Nutter and why isn’t he bigger than JJ Abrams?

David Nutter aka ‘King of Pilot TV’ has single-handedly been responsible for casting the ‘stars of the future in series such as Dark Angel and Alias through which he launched the careers of Jessica Alba and most recently Lena Headey as the lead in Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles.

He has worked with the cream of the crop – David Duchovny, Steven Spielberg, Rob Lowe, Johnny Depp, Katie Holmes, George Clooney, David Schwimmer, James Cameron, Katherine Heigl, Gillian Anderson, Martin Sheen, Naomi Watts, James Marsden and Stockard Channing – to name a few.

Nutter, an Emmy Award-winning American TV director who has directed episodes of Band of Brothers, Sopranos, Nip /Tuck, X Files, Entourage, Alias, West Wing, Without a Trace, Smallville, ER, Roswell, Lost and many more.  David is best recognised for his ability to direct TV pilots that go on to become long running, successful series worldwide.

He is one of the most impressive and successful directors in his field, so much so that film production company CBS has chosen his new project, Bruno Heller's crime drama 'The Mentalist' as its first post-strike pilot. The pick up for 'The Mentalist' comes on the same day that Nutter announced the casting of Natassia Malthe as lead actress for 'Scarlet', a brand new TV series coming out this month. Nutter, who remains tight-lipped on the Scarlet series, believes the project will make Malthe the next big female star in Hollywood.

“As soon as the script was finished, I knew Natassia was meant to play Scarlet. She glows with this mysterious beauty.  She is flawless on screen.  There’s an instinctive beauty about her that you just can’t take your eyes off,” Nutter commented.

Nutter got an early career break through a chance golf game with 21 Jump Street executive producer Patrick Hasburgh, who hired him to direct an episode of the Johnny Depp series. By the late ’90s he was directing episodes of Fox’s hit sci-fi drama The X-Files.

One of the town’s most highly regarded pilot specialists, he’s pulled off the Hollywood equivalent of pitching a perfect game: In the last decade, all of the 11 drama pilots he’s directed have become series.

David Nutter’s new TV project Scarlet will be launched worldwide on April 28th.