On Friday, Ashley Tisdale of The CW's fall pilot Hellcats was on set in Vancouver getting ready to film a big cheerleader routine.

Hellcats, a candidate for The CW's fall lineup stars Tisdale as Sierra Sloan, the "fiercely intense" captain of a competitive college cheerleading team called The Hellcats. Ashley's character knocks heads with roommate Marti (co-star Aly Michalka), a college girl from the wrong side of the tracks who, after losing her scholarship due to budget cuts and her mother's chronic irresponsibility joins the team and might be their savior.

Hellcats is executive produced by Smallville's Tom Welling and also features Gail O'Grady (American Dreams, NYPD Blue).

The CW will announce the fate of Hellcats during upfront week in late May.

One more pic...after the jump...

Hellcats, The CW fall pilot from Smallville's Tom Welling has found its leading lady. High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale has been tapped to co-star in the potential new series.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tisdale will play the "fiercely intense" cheerleading captain of the Hellcats, a competitive college cheerleading team. Ashley's character knocks heads with roommate Marti, "a college girl from the wrong side of the tracks who, after losing her scholarship because of budget cutbacks and her mother's chronic irresponsibility" joins the team and just may turn out to be their ticket to a championship.

The pilot also stars Aly Michalka (Phil Of The Future) as Marti and Gail O'Grady (NYPD Blue, American Dreams) as her mother.

The CW will announce it's fall schedule on May 20th.

Michaela McManus who played Lindsey Strauss on One Tree Hill a couple of season's ago and more recently appeared as A.D.A. Kim Greylek on Law & Order: SVU has joined the cast of Nomads, a new pilot for The CW that may find its way onto the fall schedule, Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello reported today.

According to Ausiello, McManus will play "a brave and resourceful Army Brat determined to earn a place in the CIA. She finds herself fighting an attraction to her handler and a fellow agent-in-training."

The "fellow agent-in-training" will be played by Friday Night Lights' Scott Porter.

The CW will announce its 2010-2011 schedule on May 20th.

Producers have tapped a familiar face to star in the new pilot Nomads about a group of young backpackers who work with the CIA on secret missions.

Scott Porter who is best known for playing paraplegic ex-high school football star quarterback turned sports agent Jason Street during the first three seasons of critically acclaimed drama Friday Night Lights has signed on the dotted line to headline the possible new series.

Incidentally, Porter's former Friday Night Lights co-star Minka Kelly appeared in Body Politic, a pilot for a CW series last year that did not make the fall schedule.

The CW will announce it's fall schedule during upfront week in mid-May.

Some cool casting choices are being made over at The CW.

David Anders (who is best known for his role as Sark on Alias and from more recent roles on both Heroes and 24) has joined the cast of The Vampire Diaries. Anders will play Jonathan Gilbert, Elena and Jeremy's uncle beginning on April 15th.

Maggie Q is in talks to star as Nikita in the CW pilot of the same name. Nikita is a new take on La Femme Nikita, the hit film and cable network series. Maggie Q is no stranger to the action genre having appeared in such adrenaline charged blockbusters as Mission Impossible III, Rush Hour II and Live Free Or Die Hard!

Sean Faris has been chosen to headline Amy Sherman Palladino's Wyoming-based soap pilot. Faris who has appeared on such TV shows as Reunion and Life As We Know It is best known to CW fans for his most recent role of Ben McKittrick on The Vampire Diaries.

Finally, congrats to Gillian Zinser who plays Ivy Sullivan on 90210. She has just been promoted to a series regular on the show!

The CW has greenlit a pilot from the production team behind such successful series as Numb3rs and The Good Wife.

According to trade newspaper The Hollywood Reporter, the potential series is called Nomads and "is described as an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride following a group of nearly broke young backpackers traveling the world who agree to earn money by working secret missions for the CIA."

Other newly announced projects in the works for a potential slot somewhere on The CW schedule are a reality show featuring celebrity trainer to the stars Tracy Anderson (Anderson boasts such clients as Shakira, Kate Hudson and Courteney Cox, but is best known as Madonna's former personal trainer. Described as a docu-soap, this possible series comes from Ryan Seacrest Productions) and Lost Weekend, "a scavenger hunt show" from Brett Ratner (X-Men, Rush Hour, Prison Break).

The network is also looking to possibly break tradition this summer and air a schedule with first-run content in lieu of the repeats that usually play during the off-season.

Tom Welling (Smallville's Clark Kent) is the producer of a pilot commissioned by The CW for a possible slot on next fall's schedule. Welling's show is called Hellcats and is a comedy-drama set in the world of competitive cheerleading. Kevin Murphy (who has written for such series as Desperate Housewives and The CW's cult favorite Reaper) wrote the pilot and will co-executive produce with Welling.

The CW also continues to mine ideas for new series from the world of literature (see such success stories as Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries). That's the case with Tara Bray Smith's novel Betwixt which may be making a leap from bookshelves to your flat screen this fall. This pilot is a story about good and evil in which urban changelings protect humans from bad stuff! Sounds like it would slot in really well with Supernatural and the aforementioned Vampire Diaries, no?

The CW has now committed to producing five pilots so far, including Hayden Panettiere's HMS, as well as last week's announcement of Nikita and Amy Sherman-Palladino's unnamed Wyoming-set family drama.