LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Back in the spring, "Clubhouse," a coming-of-age drama pilot about a 16-year-old batboy, looked as if it could be a strong contender either at the WB Network, which was built on the appeal of teen-angst dramas, or at Fox, the broadcast home of Major League Baseball and buzzworthy teen soap "The O.C."

"Clubhouse" actually ended up at CBS, the oldest-skewing network, which jumped in immediately when it was shopped around town last year by Mel Gibson’s Icon Prods.

After looking at several writers with strong WB backgrounds, CBS and Icon picked "Charmed" veteran Daniel Cerone to pen the pilot, based on an upcoming book by former Yankees batboy Matt McGough. "Charmed" producer Spelling TV came on board as co-producer.

The network didn’t spare any expense when casting the pilot, lining up such established actors as Dean Cain, Christopher Lloyd and Mare Winningham. But it almost took extra innings to find the lead — until 15-year-old "Peter Pan" star Jeremy Sumpter was brought in a day before the pilot was slated to go into production. Sumpter blew the audition but won everyone over and got the part. Then the pilot won everyone over at CBS and landed a spot on the network’s fall schedule.

In July, CBS picked "Clubhouse" over heavy-hitting newcomers like "CSI: NY" to showcase at its party during the TV Critics Assn.’s summer press tour. Cerone says it felt surreal to attend the shindig held at Dodger Stadium, where the game scenes for the pilot were filmed. And Cerone can truly appreciate a strong promotional push: He holds a master’s degree in public relations from USC. He never practiced in the field of PR, though. Instead, he spent his first eight years out of college working as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times’ TV section, until he felt compelled to try his hand at TV writing-producing.

"When I realized that I was starting to write dialogue for people I was interviewing, I figured it was time to go," he says.

After two weeks at TV Guide, Cerone left TV journalism forever in 1998 to land his first TV job: a staff writer position on the Canadian-produced syndicated series "First Wave." A year later, fearing that another year on the show may brand him as syndicated series writer forever, he left and returned to Los Angeles. He soon landed his first writing job on U.S. soil on the WB’s short-lived drama "D.C.," which was followed by a three-year stint on "Charmed." Cerone worked on a couple of pilots during his tenure on "Charmed," where he rose to co-executive producer, but his big break came with "Clubhouse." Despite his WB experience, Cerone seemed an unusual choice to develop a show about a batboy for a Yankees-like New York team. The southern California native is not a big baseball fan. Still, "I speak the language of sports, and I felt comfortable enough with the area," he says.

Now, with the help of McGough and his writing staff, Cerone faces the challenge of creating stories for each member of the show’s large and diverse ensemble cast.

"As a writer, it’s wonderful because it’s like a palette of colors that you can use to draw on," he says. "But it’s also very challenging because you have a lot of characters that you need to service every week."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter