EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has taken in for development Confessions (working title), a drama series starring and executive produced by The Vampire Diaries alum Paul Wesley, I have learned. Written and executive produced by TVD co-developer, executive and showrunner Julie Plec and Bradley Paul (Better Call Saul), the project, which is in early stages, is based on Jason Smith’s non-fiction 2015 article The Confessions Of a Drug-Addicted High School Teacher.
Confessions, produced by Universal Television, stems from the production partnership Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment forged Wesley and his company Citizen Media in 2019, following Wesley’s starring turn on Kapital’s CBS All Access series Tell Me a Story (created by the other TVD co-developer/ep, Kevin Williamson.).
This has been a passion project for Wesley for years. A Confessions Of a Drug-Addicted High School Teacher adaptation was one of the first pieces of development he took on when he launched Citizen Media in 2016 with a deal at Warner Bros. TV. Smith’s article chronicles his two-year stint teaching public high school in northern California. Despite teaching while anesthetized by a heavy dose of prescription narcotics, Jason finds that his brokenness from addiction begins attracting broken students, and in a town obsessed with high school football, he’s not alone in his obsession to escape from himself.
During the project’s development with Kapital, Wesley reached out to his former TVD showrunner Plec, who came on board, along with Universal Television, where Plec’s My So-Called Company is based.
Wesley is executive producing with his former producing partner Bob Levy, Kapital’s Kaplan and Brian Morewitz as well as My So-Called Company’s Plec and Emily Cummins. Jessie Abbott is the creative executive at Kapital.
Wesley recently joined the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, taking on the iconic role of James T. Kirk in the second season of the Paramount+ series. He can also be seen in Shudder feature History of Evil alongside Stephanie Beatriz. Wesley starred on The Vampire Diaries for eight seasons, directed multiple episodes throughout the series’ run, and served as a producer for the 8th and final season. He has also directed episodes of Roswell, New Mexico, Shadowhunters and Legacies. Wesley is repped by ICM, Management 360, and attorney Marcy Morris.
Under her Uni TV deal, Plec has new series Vampire Academy for Peacock and has been executive producing freshman NBC series The Endgame. Additionally, she has series The Girls on the Bus at HBO Max and Legacies and Roswell, New Mexico on the CW. She is with Management 360 and Felker Toczek Suddleson.
Paul’s writing-producing credits include Heels, Animal Kingdom and Lodge 49. He is repped by UTA and Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka.