New trend: stars before pickups

February 28, 2008 With the pilot season truncated to three months because of the writers strike, some broadcast networks are switching the order of pilot casting and pickups to save time and give themselves a better shot at sought-after talent. On Wednesday, British actor Toby Stephens ("Die Another Day") was cast as the lead in Fox's drama "Inseparable." To get a head start when the strike concluded, Fox brass in January gave their blessing for casting to begin on the ABC Studios-produced project but delayed an official pilot order until they read Cassidy's new draft.

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