ABC Family Takes ‘Recovery Road’ To Series

ABC Family has greenlit a new drama series Recovery Road from Pilgrim Studios, said network officials.

The series is based on the popular young adult novel by Blake Nelson and focuses on a teenage girl dealing with addiction, said network officials. This announcement comes on the heels of the network's recently announced pick-up of the docu-series My Transparent Life.

The series is the first scripted series greenlit by ABC Family executive vice president of programming and development Karey Burke since she joined the company in October.

“ABC Family is best known for its ground-breaking original series and Recovery Road is right in our wheel-house,” Burke said in a statement. “This series will explore relevant social issues for our audience and shine a light on addiction. It’s a powerful addition to our line up and the strong, authentic characters are sure to resonate with our audience.”   

The pilot for Recovery Road was written by Bert V. Royal (Easy A) and Karen DiConcetto (Ruby & The Rockits), who will also serve as executive producers, alongside Craig Piligian (Abducted: The Carlina White Story) and Beth Miller (Revenge of the Bridesmaids) from Pilgrim Studios and Danielle VonZerneck (Left to Die).

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.