HBO Max Orders Crime-Solving Comedy Pilot ‘Gumshoe’ & Coming-Of-Age Drama Pilot ‘Vegas High’

Nellie Andreeva

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HBO Max, the upcoming WarmerMedia streaming service, has given pilot orders to single-camera comedy Gumshoe, from writers Aaron Brownstein & Simon Ganz, director Randall Einhorn (The Kids Are Alright) and Conan O’Brien’s Conaco; and 1990s drama Vegas High, from writer Sarah-Raquel Jimenez, director Gillian Robespierre (Mrs. Fletcher) and Michael Showalter’s Semi-Formal Prods. HBO Max is the studio on both.

Written by Brownstein and Ganz (Santa Clarita Diet) and directed by Einhorn (The Kids Are Alright), Gumshoe is about a sweet, optimistic young cop and a creepy, crime-obsessed teenager who secretly team up to solve a murder.

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Longtime writing partners Brownstein and Ganz wrote Gumshoe on spec and sold it to HBO Max. They will serve as showrunners on the pilot, which they will executive produce with Einhorn as well Conaco’s O’Brien, David Kissinger, Jeff Ross, and Larry Sullivan.

Written by Jimenez and directed by Robespierre, Vegas High is inspired by Jimenez’s own experience. It is a 90’s set coming-of-age story about a girl caught between two worlds – the fast paced lifestyle of Las Vegas and her strong Mormon faith and community.

Jimenez and Robespierre executive produce alongside Showalter and Jordana Mollick for Semi-Formal Productions and Michael Lewen.

While most of HBO Max’s orders have been straight-to-series, the streamer also has a number of pilots in the works. They include comedy Delilah, gothic drama The Shelley Society, drama The Rules of Magic, half-hour dramedy Generation, and hourlong YA drama Red Bird Lane.

Brownstein and Gantz’s writing credits also include NBC’s About a Boy, and Miss 2059, a digital series they co-created which aired on Verizon Go90. They’re repped by Anonymous Content and Gang Tyre.

2019 HBO Max Pilots & Series Orders

Prolific director-producer Einhorn recently re-upped his overall deal with ABC Studios for an additional two years via his newly relaunched Sad Unicorn production banner. Under the new pact, he has sold two single-camera comedy projects for fall 2020 consideration, Us & Them to NBC and Married with Roommates to ABC. He is repped by Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, WME and attorney Michael Schenkman.

TBS star O’Brien and his Team Coco already are producing five new stand-up specials exclusively for HBO Max.

Showalter directed the Oscar-nominated The Big Sick, and is currently directing The Eyes of Tammy Faye starring Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield. His next film, rom-com The Lovebirds starring Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae, will be released in early 2020. On TV, Showalter co-created the praised TBS comedy series, Search Party, whose third and fourth seasons will premiere on HBO Max. He co-wrote and produced Wet Hot American Summer, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, which was then developed into a TV miniseries for Netflix.

In 2018, Showalter launched the production company, Semi-Formal Productions, with Jordana Mollick. The company has a first-look deal with Annapurna Television. Their first series, starring and co-created by Vanessa Bayer, is in the works with Showtime. Showalter, Jordana Mollick and Semi-Formal Productions are repped by Artists First and UTA.

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