Cameron Crowe Teams With J.J. Abrams For Showtime's 'Roadies' [UPDATED]
UPDATE: The LAT reports that Showtime has officially greenlit the Roadies pilot. It's not a series pickup, but the odds of us seeing the show someday just got a little bit better. Plus, read a new comment from Crowe about the show after the jump.Cameron Crowe's next release, a romcom set in Hawaii, sounds like quintessential Cameron Crowe. But his next project after that has him foraying into brand-new territory. Crowe is reportedly teaming up with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot and My So-Called Life creator Winnie Holzman for Roadies, a comedy series on Showtime. Get all the details after the jump.
Few details have been given about the plot of Roadies, other than that it'll be set during a rock act's U.S. tour. That part, at least, should be familiar territory for Crowe. He was a rock journalist before he was a filmmaker, and he later turned his experiences into the semi-autobiographical dramedy Almost Famous.
UPDATE: In a statement, Crowe talked a bit about how the show came about. "J.J. and I have been talking about it for some time. We're fans of crews, those workers up on the rigging towers, or walking feverishly with eight phones on their belt," he said. "Those quietly devoted people live huge lives, they're often the real keepers of the flame."
Crowe is coming off of We Bought a Zoo, which was neither a big fat flop nor a big fat hit. He's currently finishing up his untitled romcom starring Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone, due out this Christmas. We're hoping it'll be a return to form for the filmmaker, but either way a push into TV sounds like an exciting development for his career.
Since My So-Called Life, Holzman has worked on a few notable shows including ABC's Once and Again and ABC Family's Huge. Both were praised by critics and enjoyed devoted fan followings, but both suffered in the ratings and were ultimately cancelled — Once and Again after three seasons, and Huge after just one.
And Abrams' success on TV, of course, needs no explanation. We should stress at this point that Roadies hasn't officially been picked up to series. But with talent like this on board, we imagine it won't be long before it is.