Apple wins the bidding war for Kristen Wiig’s comedy series

By Rick Marshall January 17, 2018

apple kristen wiig comedy series ghostbusters 2016 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apple has its first scripted comedy series, and the currently untitled show has Kristen Wiig and Reese Witherspoon in prominent roles both behind and in front of the camera.

The tech giant won a reportedly competitive bidding competition for the 10-episode show, which will be executive produced by Wiig and will also star the Ghostbusters and Bridesmaids actress. Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine, will produce the series.

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series is inspired by Curtis Sittenfeld’s upcoming short-story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It, with Colleen McGuinness (30 Rock) attached as creator and showrunner on the series. McGuinness will serve as an executive producer along with Wiig, Witherspoon, and Lauren Neustadter.

According to the description of Sittenfeld’s book on Amazon, the author “upends assumptions about class, relationships, and gender roles in a nation that feels both adrift and viscerally divided.”

“In The World Has Many Butterflies, married acquaintances play a strangely intimate game with devastating consequences,” continues the synopsis. “In Vox Clamantis in Deserto, a shy Ivy League student learns the truth about a classmate’s seemingly enviable life. In A Regular Couple, a high-powered lawyer honeymooning with her husband is caught off guard by the appearance of the girl who tormented her in high school. And in The Prairie Wife, a suburban mother of two fantasizes about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome-lifestyle empire may or may not be built on a lie.”

The series is the fifth scripted series picked up by Apple. To date, the company is already attached to an upcoming morning show drama executive produced by Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, and starring the two actresses. Apple also picked up Steven Spielberg’s upcoming Amazing Stories anthology series and the sci-fi drama See from Battlestar Galactica reboot creator Ronald D. Moore. The company is reportedly in the midst of a bidding war for J.J. Abrams’ next scripted series in addition to the aforementioned projects.

At this point, it’s unknown how Apple plans to deliver the shows it picked up to audiences, as it still needs a studio to finance the untitled comedy series.

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