EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has given a series order to I Suck At Girls, a comedy from Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, Bill Lawrence’s Doozer and Warner Bros. TV where all are under overall deals, Deadline has learned. The order may be cast-contingent, I hear.
Abbott Elementary co-showrunners Halpern and Schumacker are writing the project based on Halpern’s book I Suck At Girls.The series revolves around three awkward high school sophomores who stumble through the messy world of teenage romance and identity, learning that sucking at girls is just part of growing up.
Halpern and Schumacker are executive producing through their Delicious Non-Sequitur Productions alongside former 20th TV head of comedy Chet Dave, now Head of Development for Delicious Non-Sequitur, and Doozer’s Lawrence, Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer. WBTV is the studio.
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A cast-contingent order for I Such At Girls has been rumored since September. The pickup has now become a reality as casting notices went out today, I hear. Filming is targeting a summer start, sources said.
Reps for Netflix and WBTV declined comment
Published in May 2012, I Suck At Girls was Halpern’s follow-up to his bestseller Sh*t My Dad Says, based on his popular Twitter feed, which he and Schumacker adapted into the CBS/WBTV comedy series $h*! My Dad Says that starred William Shatner.
Warner Bros. TV and Lawrence originally optioned I Suck At Girls three months before it was published by HarperColins. A single-camera comedy adaptation by Halpern and Schumacker, with Lawrence executive producing, triggered a bidding situation later that year, landing at Fox a pilot production commitment. It went to series, Surviving Jack, starring Christopher Meloni, which ran for one season.
Halpern and Schumacker last year re-teamed with Lawrence for another stab at the book with a new premise, resulting in I Suck At Girls, which was taken in by Netflix.
Halpern and Schumacker serve as executive producers/co-showrunners alongside creator/star Quinta Brunson on the hit ABC/WBTV comedy series Abbott Elementary and also were co-developers and executive producers on the studio’s animated HBO Max series Harley Quinn. They are managed by Adventure Media and represented by attorney Allison Binder at Goodman Genow Schenkman Smelkinson + Christopher.
Doozer’s current series include Apple TV’s Ted Lasso, Shrinking and Bad Monkey and the upcoming HBO comedy series Rooster, starring Steve Carell, and ABC’s Scrubs revival– all created or co-created by Lawrence. He is repped by CAA and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman.