Showtime has given a series order to Frankie Shaw’s “SMILF,” The Hollywood Reporter confirms. The former “Mr. Robot” actress is wearing many hats on the semi-autobiographical 10-episode comedy: she’s starring, writing, producing, and directing. The series is based on her short of the same name that won the Short Film Jury Award at Sundance in 2015.
Set in Boston, “SMILF” centers on a twenty-something single woman (Shaw) “whose desires for relationships, sex, and a career collide with the realities of young, single motherhood,” THR summarizes. Rosie O’Donnell plays Shaw’s character’s mother, her first-ever series regular role.
Shaw also previously wrote and directed “Too Legit,” which premiered at Sundance 2016. The short film is a satire about campus sexual assault and stars Zoë Kravitz (“Big Little Lies”). Shaw told us that she wants the film to encourage people to think about the female experience — “the incessant victim-blaming. How pervasive our rape culture really is. What it must feel like to have your character assassinated after being assaulted. The dehumanization of women by both women and men. That rape and the commodification of women is a systemic problem, and we need massive change — everything from the way women are depicted in video games to the lack of female characters on the shows my son watches. That this runs deep, that inequality and subtle sexism contribute to rape culture, that rape culture is real and it’s fucking sad.”
Shaw’s collaborators on “SMILF” include Janice Williams (“Confirmation”) and Michael London (“Sideways”).
“It’s thrilling to find an artist with a strong, singular voice that is new to television,” Gary Levine, president of programming at Showtime, commented. “Frankie literally does it all on ‘SMILF’: writer, producer, director, and star, and the results are funny, emotional, surprising, and unapologetic.”
The series will premiere on Showtime in the fall.