Bravo greenlights its first scripted pilots

Bravo has established itself as a birth site for reality TV touchstones -- through franchises such as “Real Housewives” and “Top Chef” -- but it really, really wants to get in the scripted game and has picked up two new scripted shows to pilot to help make that their reality.

The pilots are expected to start production early next year.

“Rita,” produced by Fox Television Studios, “is an adaptation of a Danish series that centers on an elite private school. The title character is a teacher at the school who is struggling to manage her life as a parent of three with the bureaucracy at the school. The show is written and executive produced by Krista Vernoff (“Shameless,” “Grey’s Anatomy”).

“The Joneses,” produced by ABC Studios, is based on the 2009 film of the same name that starred Demi Moore and David Duchovny. The series, from Liz Tigelaar (“Life Unexpected”), centers on an American family that moves into a wealthy suburb -- only, they’re not really a family at all but covert marketers infiltrating the area to hawk products.

“These pilots give us an opportunity to explore worlds and characters that are distinct from our unscripted programming,” said Andrew Wang, Bravo vice president of scripted development and production, in a statement. “Yet, both projects feature the memorable storylines and strong, unique characters that our Bravo audience craves.” Wang is a former Alloy Entertainment exec who was involved with such series as “The Vampire Diaries” and “Gossip Girl.”

The network has been trying to dip its toes in the scripted pool for a while. Earlier this year, it announced several other scripted shows in development, including a reboot of the 1988 teen classic “Heathers.”

Bravo plans to debut its first original scripted series by the end of 2013. No cast announcements have been made.

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