Girls creator and star Lena Dunham, who has long been carrying the feminism torch for her generation, will be exploring the theme in Max, a new single-camera comedy for HBO, which has received a pilot order by the network.
Starring Lisa Joyce (Billy & Billie), Max hails from a quartet of Girls executive producers who all will executive produce the pilot – Dunham, who also will direct, Murray Miller, who wrote the script, Jenni Konner and Ilene Landress. Dunham and Konner exec produce through their A Casual Romance Prods.
Set in the Mad Men era, Max is described as a raucous comedy set in 1963 about the struggles of second wave feminism, centered on an ambitious magazine writer, Maxine Woodruff (Joyce), looking for liberation. Maxine is an enthusiastic, if misguided, low-level magazine employee who stumbles into the forefront of a civil rights movement both she and the world may not be ready for.
For Dunham, Max marks the first pilot since her breakout Girls, which she wrote, directed and starred in at the age of 25, earning Emmy nominations in all three categories, in addition to best comedy series. The project also stems from Miller’s overall deal with HBO.
At HBO, Max joins the recently picked up Pete Holmes comedy pilot Crashing, executive produced by Girls exec producer Judd Apatow, as well as several pilots with female leads, Issa Raes’ Insecure, which is looking good for a series pickup, and projects with comedians Sarah Silverman and Whitney Cummings.
Dunham has been open about her feminist views, reflected in the newsletter Lenny she recently launched with Konner. Dunham and Miller are repped by UTA; Joyce is repped by Gersh, Siren Song and Peikoff/Mahan.
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