Lauren Iungerich exits her MTV comedy pilot ‘Hot Mess’

MTV comedy pilot Hot Mess has lost its creator and executive producer Lauren Iungerich. According to an MTV representative, the departure of Iungerich from her own pilot was mutually agreed on by both parties. Hot Mess has tested very well this far an is heading into MTV screenings nect week as a frontrunner for a series pickup. In fact, they have even been optimistic enough to explore staffing some writers in anticipation of a series order. So why did Iungerich leave?

Apparently, Iungerich is leaving her pilot, which is several years in the making, for both creative and personal reasons. Hot Mess centers on Amanda Marshall (Stephenson), a girl caught between her current and former boyfriend, and her close circle of friends from college. Iungerich has another series at MTV, Awkward, that is filming its third season currently, which she has no intentions of leaving behind.

Hot Mess has gone through a fair share of changes since being picked up to pilot in November. As the pilot was wrapping casting, MTV announced that Susanne Daniels would be taking over as new head of programming, replacing David Janollari. In addition, Mina Lefevre from ABC was added as SVP and Head of Scripted Programming in late January. Both Daniels and Lefevre are highly invested in Hot Mess, but were not involved in the casting or development of the pilot and so they have a much different take on the project. Finally, MTV recently released Hot Mess’ lead actress Annabelle Stephenson.

Robyn Meisinger and Kim Fleary, who executive produced the pilot with Iungerich, are still said to be on board.