HBO Orders Pilot From 'The Office's' Stephen Merchant

Getty Images

Stephen Merchant

Stephen Merchant is continuing his relationship with HBO.

our editor recommends

HBO Renews 'Eastbound & Down' for Fourth Season

'Bored to Death' Could Continue as HBO TV Movie

The premium cable network on Monday ordered to pilot Hello Ladies, a comedy in which Merchant will star in, exec produce and write, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The creator of the British series The Office (and an exec producer on NBC's take) penned the pilot with former Office writer-producers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. HBO will produce the project with ABC Studios, where Eisenberg and Stupnitsky have an overall deal.

Merchant will star in Hello Ladies as an English guy looking for love in Los Angeles who's infatuated with the city's polarizing world of beautiful people, which he'll desperately attempt to crack.

The pilot order continues his relationship with HBO, which broadcasts The Ricky Gervais Show and Life's Too Short. Merchant previously toured the U.K. with his stand-up comedy act in 2011, with the DVD of his performance released under the title Hello Ladies.

Merchant is repped by WME and United Agents. Eisenberg and Stupnitsky co-wrote Bad Teacher and Year One. They're repped by WME and Mosaic.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit