Nick Kroll Launches Production Company Good At Business; Sets Adaptation Of ‘Several People Are Typing’ As First Project

Justin Kroll
·3 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Multi-hyphenate Nick Kroll is launching his first production company, Good At Business and tapped Alicia Van Couvering as is his first exec. Under his new banner, Good At Business is developing and adaptation of Calvin Kasulke’s Several People Are Typing as a TV series.

Several People Are Typing is the first novel narrated entirely through Slack chats. Kasulke’s darkly funny debut upends our new modern workplace—the virtual office.

The story follows, Gerald, an employee of a New York-based PR firm, is working in a spreadsheet when he finds his consciousness uploaded into the company’s Slack channel. Despite his posts for help, his colleagues assume it’s an elaborate strategy to work from home. Gerald enlists his co-worker Pradeep to care for his body while they figure out how to reintegrate his consciousness. Plunging deeper into the Slack workspace—and becoming a more productive employee by the day—Gerald relies on Slackbot, the messaging service’s AI assistant, to help him navigate his new digital reality. But what happens when the Slackbot discovers a world (and an empty body) outside the Slack app?

The novel will be published by Doubleday next fall.

“I’ve always dreamed of having a shingle to score big box office whammo and be the prexy of really anything. But in all the seriousness I can muster for a self-promoting piece of press for my new company, I want to create a home for artists to develop their most authentic ideas and tell quality stories with lots of jokes and lots of emotions,” Kroll said. “We have a strict no assholes policy and believe that the experience of making something should be as rewarding as the final product. I have found a wonderful partner in Alicia to help achieve this vision in building this business. Because Good at Business is in the biz of big boffo.”

Good At Business will be a comedy-focused company producing work across all formats, including TV, film, podcasts, plays and live events. The company is independently financed.

“Nick’s radar for finding the deep, meaningful, universal truth underneath even the silliest joke is peerless, as is his understanding of what is important, or not, in life and work,” Van Couvering said. “We share a vision of building a company with a long list of awesome things that you are sure were created just for you.”

Kroll has been busy over the past year with successful projects that includes his hit Netflix animated series “Big Mouth”, with the fourth season launching on December 4. There is also the Big Mouth spin-off Human Resources, which he will exec produce. He is currently filming the Olivia Wilde directed Don’t Worry Darling and also has the second season of the Apple series Dickinson.

He also lends his voice in the upcoming animated Addams Family 2 as well as Sing 2.

Van Couvering is a producer whose credits include work by filmmakers such as Lena Dunham, Jon Watts, Sharon Horgan, Max Minghella, Joe Swanberg, Hannah Fidell, Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman and more. She is formerly an executive at Epic Magazine, Lord & Miller Productions, and was most recently SVP of Features at Annapurna Pictures.

Kroll is repped by Rise and Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin Dunham. Kauslke is repped by Kent Wolf of Neon Literary and WME.

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