Netflix picks up untitled Rev Run comedy series from Amblin TV
David Farnor | On 21, Nov 2017
Netflix has picked up a new comedy series starring Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons.
The pilot, starring Joseph and Justine Simmons, was self-financed by Amblin and ABC Studios, impressing the streaming giant enough to earn a full series order.
The sitcom is created by Jeremy Bronson (ABC’s The Mayor) and began as a massive multi-camera deal last development season, landed by ABC in October. While it did not get a pilot order, Amblin and ABC pooled resources to film a pilot on the set of Black-ish and took the project to marketplace, where it found interest with Netflix. After several months of negotiations, Deadline reports that Netflix has ordered a 10-episode first season.
The untitled sitcom stars Simmons as a legendary rapper, who finds his plans disrupted when his wife, Justine (Simmons), decides to pursue her own dreams. While the couple have worked together before, this is their first project that is loosely inspired by their own lives; Simmons, of course, is one of the founding members of Run-DMC, who went on to find reality TV fame with his series Run’s House on MTV, which also introduced US viewers to Justine.
Andrew Reich is on board as showrunner, executive producing alongside Bronson, Justin Falvey & Darryl Frank from Amblin Television, alongside Rev Run Simmons & Justine Simmons, and Michael Lehman of Simmons Lehman Productions. The show is produced by Amblin TV and ABC’s digital division, ABC Signature. Production begins in January.