From Deadline.com: EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Fox has landed an hourlong anthology series from 1980s music superstar Huey Lewis, Hart of Dixie creator Leila Gerstein and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment. The project, a co-production of Fox Entertainment and Kapital Entertainment, has received a script-to-series commitment.
Written by Gerstein, each season of the Untitled Huey Lewis Project is a self-contained romantic comedy inspired by the music of a beloved pop star. Huey Lewis sets the beat as the inspiration of Season 1, which interweaves a present day love story with a teen rom-com set in 1986. It is conceived as an homage to the great rom-coms of the ‘80s and ‘90s and a reminder that the Power of Love is, indeed, a curious thing.
Lewis and Gerstein executive produce with Kaplan and Dana Honor of Kapital Entertainment.
The anthology series is based on an idea by Kaplan, who considers Lewis a true idol of his growing up. He pitched it to Lewis during a meeting set up by Lewis’ agency, Paradigm, and the singer-songwriter agreed to partner with Kaplan on the project in the room. The duo approached Gerstein, with whom Kapital developed legal dramedy The Underlings at Fox during the 2016-17 season. Lewis and Gerstein instantly hit it off creatively, and she came on board as a writer.
After creating and showrunning Hart of Dixie for four seasons, Gerstein went on to work on such shows as Mrs. America, The Handmaid’s Tale and Looking For Alaska. She’s written projects for Hulu, HBO and Apple, and is currently developing an original show at Netflix with Michael Green. She is repped by WME, Kaplan/Perrone and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine.
Grammy-winning and Academy Award-nominated Huey Lewis and his band Huey Lewis & The News have sold over 30 million albums and netted a slew of Top Ten singles over the years with hits like “The Heart of Rock & Roll,” “I Want A New Drug,” and the Oscar-nominated “Power of Love” (You can watch the official music video below.) Launching to international superstardom in the early 1980s, they remain one of popular music’s most enduring and beloved acts, and were included on Billboard’s list of the Top 125 Artists of All Time. In February 2020, the band released Weather, recorded at the band’s own Trout Farm studio in Marin County, CA, their first new album of original material in nearly two decades.
As an actor, Lewis played Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago on Broadway. He also appeared in the movie Duets with Gwyneth Paltrow, and guest-starred multiple times on the sitcom Hot in Cleveland. Lewis is repped by Paradigm.
At Fox, Kapital has the upcoming animated series Housebroken, comedy pilot Pivoting and a crime drama procedural in development based on the true-life experiences of professional medium Tina Powers.
By Nellie Andreeva
Co-Editor-in-Chief, TV at Deadline.com
