Oscar-winning writer Diablo Cody is co-developing a comedy for Fox about the strange world of synchronized swimming, THR reports. She’s teaming up with “American Idol’s” Simon Cowell and “Glee” co-creator Ian Brennan for the single-camera project.
The comedy, THR writes, “centers on Marion Lolo, who has 26 synchronized swimming medals, one restraining order against her, and zero friends.”
Fox has ordered a put pilot. Cody will executive produce with Brennan through his overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television. Cowell will executive produce through his Syco Entertainment.
This isn’t Cody’s only TV project in the works. She also teamed up with Greg Berlanti for the ABC comedy “Raised by Wolves,” and co-created and writes the Tig Notaro comedy “One Mississippi” on Amazon. She also created Showtime’s “United States of Tara,” which ran from 2009 to 2011.
In the film world, Cody won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2008 for “Juno.” She also wrote the cult horror film “Jennifer’s Body,” the dark comedy “Young Adult,” and “Ricki and the Flash” starring Meryl Streep. She’s also directed one film, “Paradise,” but as she told Film School Rejects, she doesn’t think she’ll head back to the director’s chair, preferring the isolation of writing.
We can only hope that, for this new series, Cody continues to break molds and present the multi-faceted, “unlikable” female characters she’s known for writing. When Cody was asked how she’d define a “strong” female character, she responded, “I’m perhaps alone among my colleagues because I like talking about women’s issues in film, and feminism. I think a lot of women don’t like to do that. It’s usually, ‘Can we please turn the conversation back to my work?’ For me, it’s an important part of who I am. I feel like so much of the reaction to my work and to me is connected to the fact that I’m a woman, so I can’t avoid that conversation. A part of my career is that I am a woman and I’ve committed myself to writing roles for women. I cannot separate myself from that and say, ‘Oh, can we please just talk about my work?’ That is my work.”
