The upcoming short-form streaming service Quibi has ordered a new series from the writers of Blue Mountain State. The series, currently titled Florida Man, will imagine fictional stories behind outrageous headlines originating from the state of Florida.
The idea of a fictional rambunctious “Florida Man” became popular on the internet as meme thanks to the now-retired Twitter account @_FloridaMan. The account created in 2013 would tweet links to news articles from Florida that featured “Florida Man” doing wildly illegal or otherwise incomprehensible things. Some examples of popular headlines include “Florida Man Drives Ferrari Off Dock and Into the Sea” and “Florida Man Burst Through Wall With Pants Around His Ankles as He Attempts to Rob Hyundai Dealership.”
These headlines served as the inspiration for commercial directors Dylan Trussell and David Dinetz. Trussell and Dinetz then brought on series writers Chris Romano and Drew Hancock, creators of Spike TV’s series Blue Mountain State, and arranged for the series to be produced by Ace Studios.
Though Quibi’s Florida Man may be bringing the concept of the “world’s worst superhero” back into the public consciousness, @_FloridaMan creator Freddie Campion has stated that he no longer wants to bring “Florida Man” stories to light. In an interview with The Washington Post, Campion, a United Kingdom native, noted that he felt some regret for starting the account. “I thrust some people into the spotlight when they didn’t want it,” he stated. “If I was to start this whole thing again, I’d be thinking about it in a very different way, because now we think about the Internet in a different way… In 2013, we didn’t think what happened on the Internet could affect real life.”
Campion now uses the @_FloridaMan account to support voting rights initiatives for ex-felons in Florida. Though the account is retired from its original form, the “Florida Man” meme remains popular online in various forms.
As for Florida Man the series, a premiere date and episode count have not yet been announced, but it will be available on Quibi.