FX Expands Docuseries Slate with Five New Projects, One Feature Documentary
By Joe Otterson
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – FX is continuing its push into the documentary business with the announcement of six new projects.
The cabler announced at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that they have ordered five new docuseries and one documentary feature. The move comes after launched the New York Times docuseries “The Weekly” back in June.
“FX has long sought to give artists a platform to showcase their individual, uncompromising vision and its new docuseries and features are an opportunity to extend that ambition in our collaboration with non-fiction talent,” said Nick Grad, co-president of original programming for FX Entertainment. “It’s been tremendously rewarding to partner with The New York Times and Hulu on ‘The Weekly,’ which has excelled creatively and is hitting series-high ratings. Under the guidance of FX’s Jonathan Frank and J.J. Klein, we are now honored to partner with these new teams to create docuseries and features that will join FX’s legacy of fearless and groundbreaking programming.”
Air dates for the docuseries will be announced over the coming months. Read the official breakdown for each new project below.
OUTLAW: THE SAGA OF AFENI AND TUPAC SHAKUR
From Emmy Award®-nominated director Allen Hughes (The Defiant Ones) comes a five-part cinematic television event exploring two voices, activist Afeni Shakur and hip hop icon Tupac Shakur, that could not be silenced. Told through the eyes of the people who knew them best, Outlaw is an intimate wide-angle portrait of the most inspiring and dangerous mother-son duo in American history, whose unified message of freedom, equality, persecution and justice are more relevant today than ever.
A WILDERNESS OF ERROR
From Emmy Award-winning producer Marc Smerling (The Jinx) and Blumhouse Television (The Jinx, Sharp Objects) comes a six-part documentary series, A Wilderness of Error, based on Errol Morris’s novel of the same name. When handsome Army Surgeon Jeffrey MacDonald is sent to prison for killing his family, a storm of swirling narratives challenges our very ability to find the truth, all the while overshadowing a chilling possibility: MacDonald may be an innocent man. Marc Smerling directs and executive produces the series alongside Blumhouse Television and Wilshire Studios. Smerling will executive produce along with Jason Blum, Marci Wiseman, Jeremy Gold, Mary Lisio, Dawn Olmstead, Jessica Grimshaw, Rachel Horovitz and Michael Jackson. Brian Murphy is co-executive producer.
PRIDE
PRIDE is a six-part documentary series hailing from Christine Vachon’s Killer Films and Refinery 29, chronicling the fight for LGBTQ civil rights in America, as seen through the lens of our national history, and the biggest pop culture and political events. Each part directed by a different renowned LGBTQ director, Pride is about all of us, and the awesome, heartbreaking, and heroic story surrounding the LGBTQ fight for freedom over the last 60 years in America. Pride is executive produced by Christine Vachon and Sydney Foos of Killer Films, Refinery29/Amy Emmerich, Stone Roberts and Alex Stapleton.
HIP HOP UNTOLD
From Executive Producer Malcolm Spellman and Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning Lightbox, comes Hip Hop Untold, a six-part examination of a dying breed of power brokers who operate from the shadows of hip hop. It’s a deep dive into the paradox of America’s criminalization of the genre and fascination with the street culture that exists within it. Instead of telling the story of hip hop from the top down, we tell the story from the streets up. Hip Hop Untold is executive produced by Jonathan Chinn and Simon Chinn (Lightbox), Eugene “Big U” Henley, Jimmy Chriss, Malcolm Spellman, Douglas Banker and Rashidi Natara Harper.
THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL OF ALL
Based on the New York Times best-selling book of the same name, The Most Dangerous Animal of All is a four part documentary series that explores one man’s search for the father who abandoned him, only to uncover the worst: he believes his father is one of the most infamous serial killers in American history. From producer Ross Dinerstein (The Innocent Man) and Academy Award®-nominated director Kief Davidson (The Ivory Game)., The Most Dangerous Animal of All is an honest depiction of true life and true crime unexpectedly merging to upend one man’s understanding of his own identity. The Most Dangerous Animal of All is executive produced by Dinerstein and Davidson.
WOMEN IN COMEDY
For decades female stand-up comedians have struggled against biases both conscious and unconscious, but now an interesting narrative is emerging as women are more daringly using the medium to express their points of view on their experiences and the culture at large. Women in Comedy, a feature length documentary by director Andrea Nevins (Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie), will examine the changing landscape for women in stand up through intimate interviews and the examination of their groundbreaking art in the post Me Too era. Women in Comedy is executive produced by Ross Dinerstein (The Innocent Man), Jim Serpico and Nevins, with Jessica Kirson serving as Producer.
