HBO Max Pilot Orders: Practical Magic Prequel, Psychological Horror and More
The HBO Max streaming service has announced with a trio of pilot orders that it is going into business with Melissa Rosenberg (Jessica Jones), John Wells (ER, The West Wing) and Lena Dunham (Girls).
Rosenberg is among the executive producers and writers for Rules of Magic, an “epic, generational family drama set in 1960s New York City” and in which three siblings — Franny, Jet and Vincent Owens — wrestle with “abnormalities” that have kept them isolated. Descended from a bloodline of witches, the three will deal with grief, war, bigotry and dark magic, not to mention a centuries-old curse designed to keep them away from love. The two sisters, Franny and Jet, become the revered and sometimes feared aunts in the Alice Hoffman novel Practical Magic, while their beloved brother, Vincent, will leave an unexpected legacy.
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Wells, meanwhile, will serve as an EP on Red Bird Lane, a psychological horror series about eight strangers who arrive at an isolated house — all for different reasons — and quickly realize that something sinister and terrifying awaits them. Sara Gran (Southland) penned that pilot.
Lastly, Dunham is among the EPs on Generation, a “dark yet playful half-hour” that follows a group high school students whose “exploration of modern sexuality (devices and all) tests deeply entrenched beliefs about life, love and the nature of family in their conservative community.” Zelda Barnz, the 17-year-old daughter of Dunham’s production partners, Daniel and Ben Barnz, created the series and co-wrote the pilot, and will carry a co-EP title.
HBO Max is scheduled to launch in the year 2020; the several series already in the pipeline can be found in our handy slideshow.
Generation sounds like a half-hour version of Euphoria
– The Practical Magic prequel could be interesting.
– Red Bird Lane sounds like a number of haunted house horror series.
– Generation: Sounds like the standard high school stuff that’s being done by five series at any given time.
HBO Max is officially trying to kill Netflix.
They are all coming for Netflix. For those who think Netflix can’t be beat because they were first and are pretty good, I’d ask how many of you are using Blackberry’s right now?
Yeah, Netflix Is aware that’s why the last 5 yrs they have tried the approach of order a ton of shows hope something sticks, approach has had some success lots of failures but given them a ton of content, so they can claim most shows and movies youve never heard of or most original content vs old shows you love that have been repeated tug o death over the years
With the move to online viewing, any of these companies can become a network with a slate of shows. At the moment, it seems like the Wild West, but it will eventually shake out to something more reasonable to manage.
There’s not a single show that interests me.
At least on Disney+ they’ve got Marvel. Hulu’s got some and wildcard Netflix has their usual 1-shot wonder series before the ‘ol axe.
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If they’re going to offer a new streaming service; at least offer something I can relate to.
HBO has a problem. It doesn’t matter if it’s + or itself. Viewers are not flocking to their service because of their shows.
You can rail against Netflix but they have a good track record with movies and series.