'The Studio' is set in the 1990s

Showtime has won the bidding war for George Clooney's showbiz drama The Studio.

The premium cable network has handed out a script commitment with hefty penalty attached, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

From Sony Pictures Television, The Studio tells the story of a movie studio in the early 1990s, when the studios were being bought up by conglomerates and corporate culture crashed head-on into Hollywood's excesses. The two men running the show's central studio are described as best friends who struggle to maintain their humanity while they stockpile power, fight off irrelevance, and mercilessly f— over anyone who gets in their way — including each other.

Rescue Me's Peter Tolan will pen the script and exec produce via his SPT-based Fedora Entertainment banner. Bennett Miller, Clooney and Grant Heslov will also exec produce. The drama marks Clooney and Heslov's first sale via their overall deal with SPT and a return to the small screen following TNT's 2010 cop drama Memphis Beat. Miller (Moneyball, Capote) will direct the pilot, which is also being exec produced by Fedora's Michael Wimer.

Should The Studio move forward, it would mark Showtime's latest look at the entertainment industry, joining Matt LeBlanc's comedic look at the biz, Episodes.

Tolan, meanwhile, also is a co-writer/showrunner on TV Land's Jim Gaffigan comedy series. He most recently exec produced Fox's short-lived Rake adaptation.

The Hollywood Reporter