Things are getting frosty today over at Hulu, as Deadline announced today that the streaming network has picked up figure skating drama, executive produced by Olympic Gold Medalist Tara Lipinski. The gold medalist will be joined on the ice by Mad Men and Masters of Sex writer Jonathan Igla as well as Pulp Fiction producer Michael Shamberg. Deadline reports that the show will follow men and women in their 20s, who are giving up their lives for intensive training for the worldwide stage that is the Olympic Games, and having Lipinski on the team will hopefully give the show an added jolt of reality. Deadline further reports that Hulu has made a script commitment.
Since her Olympic win as the youngest person to win a world figure skating title in Nagano in 1998, Lipinski has kept herself busy. As Deadline reports, she has been working as a sports commentator. She began first as a commentator on her signature sport, Olympic figure skating, but she has since branched out into commentating on other NBC Sports events like the Super Bowl and the Kentucky Derby. Now, Lipinski is expanding her work into the realm of scripted television.
Lipinski told Deadline, “To the average observer, figure skating appears to be an extremely elegant and undeniably beautiful sport — and for good reason. But when you begin to peel back the layers of this world, more complex, and even shocking, picture emerges.” And from what she’s saying, it sounds like great fodder for a TV show. So, why has it taken Hollywood so long to take on that subject matter? Lipinski continues, telling Deadline that it was all about finding the right fit. She said, “For over a decade now I’ve been trying to find the appropriate medium, and the right people, to capture the behind-the-scenes life of figure skaters. […] Jonathan is the perfect person to take many of the things I’ve observed and craft them into a compelling and dramatic series.”
Deadline quotes Igla’s response, “I’ve always wanted to write about the lives of Olympians, but no amount of research could have given me the authentic look inside that Tara provides. Her remarkable story, and her eagerness to tell it, has created a unique opportunity to tell grounded, character-driven stories of young people coping with impossible pressure, and the toll their obsession takes on those around them.”
The team they’ve put together sounds like a Gold Medal team, and we’re excited to see what comes of the project.