Chris O’Donnell, who currently stars in and executive produces Ryan Murphy’s ABC drama 9-1-1: Nashville, has launched Lone Cypress Entertainment, a production company with capital for development and production. The first project on the slate is Kilkenny, a film set in Ireland that will star P.J. Byrne and be directed by Jay Duplass.
An early-stage packaging play
O’Donnell framed Lone Cypress as a vehicle to “assemble great teams and share in our success” across digital series, TV and film. Longtime producing partner Jay Lavender will develop and produce across genres and formats.
The company’s stated focus is upstream development. O’Donnell says it wants to “invest in ideas and help writers package their projects from the earliest stages, whether that’s a pitch, short story, article, book, or spec.”
He pointed to the end of NCIS: Los Angeles after 14 seasons as the moment he began planning the next chapter. O’Donnell also cited the mentors who shaped his early career and said part of the inspiration is to give back to newer talent while collaborating with people he came up with.
First package: Kilkenny
Kilkenny is set in Ireland and plot details are under wraps. Byrne and Duplass are writing the script from a story by Byrne and Andrew Muscato. O’Donnell will produce alongside Lavender, Muscato, Byrne and Duplass.
O’Donnell called the film “a perfect example of a talent-driven Lone Cypress project.” He said he has been friends with Byrne for almost thirty years and that Byrne brought the treatment after hitting it off with Duplass and Muscato on I Play Rocky.
Why this changes the pipeline
For streaming and film buyers, a working actor with a current broadcast hit is using on-screen leverage to fund development. That shifts the point at which projects become available to platforms.
- The company arrives with capital, so it can attach cast and creatives before a platform is involved.
- Its first film already has a star and director attached, which is a stronger package than a bare script.
- The development focus spans digital, TV and film, so it could feed several different buying pipelines.
The model is increasingly familiar: talent with a hit show becomes a producer and uses industry access to option material and attach collaborators. The difference here is the explicit early-stage mandate—from a pitch or short story to a packaged project. For buyers, that means tracking these shingles early, not just waiting for the finished slate announcements.
O’Donnell’s dual role—on a current Ryan Murphy series and off a 14-season procedural—gives the company both a production floor and a network of relationships. That kind of track record tends to make a first project easier to set up, even before plot details are public.
Lone Cypress will move between film, TV and digital. The first test is Kilkenny, and its speed to market will show whether the early-stage packaging pitch works in practice.
Source: Deadline
