'Social Distance' Series Coming To Netflix From 'Orange Is The New Black' Team
Note to Hollywood: maybe, just maybe, we don't need social distancing-based entertainment right now. Or ever, really. But that won't stop Netflix, who are moving forward with a "quarantine anthology series" from Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan. The series is called Social Distance, and promises to focus on the "new, bizarre, bewildering reality we are all experiencing."
Whether we like it or not, we're bound to get more than a few coronavirus/social distancing-themed movies and TV shows in the not-too-distant future. Case in point: Netflix just ordered Social Distance, a "quarantine anthology series" from the production team behind Orange Is the New Black. And what's it about? There's no info on that yet.
Here's what we do know: everything is being done remotely. Director Diego Velasco will direct from home, while showrunner Hilary Weisman Graham runs the show from her abode and the cast films themselves at their respective domiciles. Graham, Jenji Kohan, Tara Herrmann, and Blake McCormick all serve as executive producers (and, you guessed it, they'll be executive producing from home).
The team behind the show released the following statement:
We feel passionate about finding connection as we all remain at a distance. We've been inspired to create an anthology series that tells stories about the current moment we are living through — the unique, personal, deeply human stories that illustrate how we are living apart, together. We are challenging ourselves to do something new: To create and produce virtually so that our cast and crew can stay healthy and safe.
The experience of social distancing is currently universal, but no individual story is the same. Through a broad spectrum of tales and moments, some seismic and some mundane, we hope to capture a moment in time. And we hope that Social Distance will help people feel closer to one another.
All Netflix productions have shut down for the time being, and they could stay that way for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, I suppose it makes sense for the streaming service to be all-in on an idea like this. But that doesn't make it a good idea. To be fair, the distinct lack of actual info regarding the show isn't helping things either, and maybe Social Distance will surprise us all.