Roku Lands Chelsea Peretti’s Directorial Debut ‘First Time Female Director’ Ahead of Tribeca Premiere
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Roku has picked up the U.S. rights to the new comedy film “First Time Female Director,” which is written, directed and produced by Chelsea Peretti. The “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” alum also stars in the film, which follows a woman named Sam (Peretti) who takes over as director at a local theater in Glendale and struggles to fill her male predecessor’s shoes.
Per the synopsis, Sam experiences real-life drama as she struggles to wrangle her unimpressed cast of local actors (Benito Skinner, Kate Berlant, Megan Stalter, Megan Mullally, Jak Knight and Blake Anderson). With no one to lean on but her deeply troubled therapist, Meg (Amy Poehler) and a desperate usher (Max Greenfield), Sam grasps for guidance from the theatre’s sadistic artistic director, Sheldon (Andy Richter). All the while the company’s ticket-taker Star (Xosha Roquemore) is secretly rising up the ranks behind the scenes.
The film will stream for free exclusively on The Roku Channel in 2024. It will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Monday night.
“First Time Female Director” is produced by Fox Entertainment’s MarVista Entertainment and Paper Kite Productions. Angie Day, Ani Kevork, Hannah Pillemer, Tony Vassiliadis and Fernando Szew produce for MarVista Entertainment. In addition to Peretti, producers include Amy Poehler, Kate Arend and Jordan Grief for Paper Kite Productions, and Deanna Barillari.
“Chelsea Peretti’s comedic genius is on full display in ‘First Time Female Director,’ and we are honored to call her debut film a Roku Original,” head of Roku Media Originals Brian Tannenbaum said in a statement. “From the first moment we connected with the teams at MarVista Entertainment and Paper Kite Productions, we knew that it would be the perfect fit for our originals slate. After keeping this under wraps for months, we’re thrilled to finally share that The Roku Channel will bring this hilariously unforgettable story to millions of streamers. There’s no better place to share this news than at the Tribeca Film Festival, which has a long history of championing and celebrating first-time filmmakers.”
Hannah Pillemer, EVP of Creative Affairs at MarVista Entertainment added, “MarVista Entertainment is committed to supporting female filmmakers and we are so proud to have worked with Chelsea, an incredibly talented director with an incredibly bright future. In this film, she has created a unique and distinctively hilarious film and we are thrilled that our partners at Roku will share it with their viewers.”
The deal was brokered by WME Independent on behalf of Paper Kite Productions and Mar Vista Entertainment.
Fox Entertainment Global will oversee sale of worldwide rights outside of the U.S. for “First Time Female Director.”
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