Stephen Falk has lined up his next TV project.
The creator of FXX’s critical darling You’re the Worst is teaming with Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter of Berlanti Productions for a Showtime drama called Spoonbenders. The project has received a sizable pilot-production commitment from the premium cable network.
Based on a 2017 novel by Daryl Gregory, Spoonbenders is a genre-busting saga that centers on The Amazing Telemachus Family, a traveling family magic act — which happened to be made up of people with actual magic powers — and the tragedy that finds them forced to reunite 25 years later, when old debts, long-running grudges the mob and the CIA all come looking for them.
The drama is the first TV project for Falk after You’re the Worst wrapped its five-season run in April on FXX. The Showtime script is the first TV project for Falk after his overall deal with FX Productions expired. He developed several other projects for the now Disney-owned cabler, though none moved forward. Falk will write Spoonbenders and executive produce with Berlanti and Schechter. Berlanti Productions produces in association with Warner Bros. TV, where the company is based.
For Berlanti, this is the latest script deal for his increasingly prolific company and his first at Showtime in addition to multiple broadcast projects. His company, as part of a $400 million overall deal, currently has a TV record 19 shows on seven different platforms. This may also be his first premium cable script. Should Spoonbenders move forward, he would have an even 20 shows across eight outlets.
Spoonbenders joins a slate of Showtime projects in the works that includes an adaptation of Lisa Taddeo’s book Three Women, Jeff Daniels-led drama Rust and fantasy series Gormenghast. The ViacomCBS network also has Bryan Cranston thriller Your Honor, anthology series First Ladies and a Penny Dreadful revival on tap.
