Add Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant to the list of power stars who have thrown a vote of confidence behind Netflix; the duo will star in and executive produce a comedy series for the network, debuting in 2017.
Santa Clarita Diet features Joel (Olyphant) and Sheila (Barrymore) as married realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita, until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending both their lives down a road of death and destruction – but in a good way.
Created from a script by Victor Fresco (Better off Ted, My Name is Earl) the Netflix deal was brokered by Tracy Katsky through her deal at Kapital Entertainment. Netflix is handling producing and Fresco will serve as showrunner and one of several executive producers.
Fresco cracked wise during the announcement today, made alongside Netflix VP of original content Cindy Holland. He began, “The genius of casting Timothy and Drew, combined with my comedic… oh wait, that’s Cindy’s quote. I agree with what Cindy is about to say.”
Holland said, “The genius casting of Timothy and Drew combined with Victor’s unique comedic sensibility will delight, and definitely surprise, our members around the world.”
This clip has nothing to do with the new show but watching Timothy Olyphant on Conan is delightful.
Olyphant has been delighting fans for six seasons on Justified (FX), for which he earned that Emmy nomination he’s talking about in the clip, and he recently appeared on The Grinder (Fox). Barrymore has been working behind the camera as a producer on Knife Fight (Esquire) and recent feature How to be Single, and co-starred in 2015’s Miss You Already.
Content creators are flocking to Netflix , providing the Internet brand with a long list of quality shows in development. Since Netflix doesn’t have advertisers to please some creators may feel they have more content freedom, while others might enjoy the option of shorter season orders, or appearing on a show that is binge-worthy. In an exclusive interview for The Hollywood Reporter six casting directors talked about new challenges of casting during pilot season. Scheduling around existing recurring roles, requests for filming locations (e.g. closer to home), and shorter episode orders were all cited as new trends.
Whatever they’re doing to facilitate it Netflix is, without a doubt, expanding the list of strong, popular talent on their original content slate. Judd Apatow’s Love landed last month. Winona Ryder and David Harbour (Quantum of Solace) show up in Stranger Things in July; The Crown stars Matt Smith, John Lithgow and Claire Foy, and of course there are Gilmore Girls, Luke Cage, and A Series of Unfortunate Events all being developed under the watchful gaze of fans.