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Exclusive: Mistresses, the drama soap from The Nine co-creator Kj Steinberg, which had been on the short list at ABC for a pilot order for fall, is getting a straight-to-series pickup for summer instead. The network has greenlighted the project to series targeted for summer 2013. Based on the British format, Mistresses, whose setup evokes ABC’s departing Desperate Housewives, is described as a provocative thrilling drama that finds four women with scandalous romantic lives, caught in storms of excitement and self-discovery, secrecy and betrayal, and at the mercy of the complex relationships they’ve created. Steinberg wrote the adaptation, which is being executive produced by Bob Sertner and Ecosse Films’ Douglas Rae for ABC Studios. The original series, which ran for 3 seasons on BBC One, is carried in the U.S. by BBC America. Produced by Ecosse, it was created by Rachel Anthony, S.J. Clarkson and Lowri Glain and starred Sarah Parish,...

L to R: Sharon Small, Orla Brady, and Shelley Conn (1/10/09)

Mistresses is a six-episode British drama series coming to BBC America in February about a group of female friends with relationship problems — including Shelley Conn (Nina's Heavenly Delights) as a promiscuous, commitment event planner who falls for one of her clients, played by Anna Torv, who is now the star of the Fox supernatural drama Fringe. (Americans who don't mind some spoilers can read our review of the first season.)

The show is a hit in the U.K., with a sizeable audience of about 6 million viewers, according to Mistresses executive producer Douglas Rae — "mainly women, but men buy the DVDs, I suspect looking for extras which aren't on it."

Most of the cast (minus Sarah Parish, who plays Dr. Katie Roden), creators, and BBC execs were on a panel on Saturday at the Television Critics Association Winter Tour in L.

Paris -- Small-screen scribes will be the main characters of the Scenaristes en Series (TV Series Rendezvous) festival, which kicked off its third edition in Aix-les-Bains on Friday.

The two-day event will bring public viewers and professionals together in the Southeastern lakeside town for a behind-the-scenes look at TV fiction production.

French networks TF1, France 2 and 3, Canal Plus and Arte will present their homegrown series for the 2008-09 season, with premiere screenings of Canal Plus' "Mafiosa," France 2's "Nicolas Le Floch," France 3's "Disparitions" and TF1's "Amis de Toujours."

The U.K. will be the country of honor as the BBC's Julie Gardner, Paul Schlesigner and Nicolas Brown will join ITV's Sita Wiliams, Channel 4's Robert Wulff-Cochrane, "Party Animals" screenwriter Ben Richards, "Skins" star Larissa Wilson and "Mistresses" co-creators Lowri Glain and Sj Clarkson to share their recent success stories.

"Skins," "Mistresses," "Life on Mars" and "Ashes to Ashes...