The Max series, based on DeuxMoi’s novel Anon Pls, has hired Diablo Cody and Ryan O’Connell as writers, Variety has learned from sources.
As first reported in May 2022, the project is currently being built at Max with a script-to-series commitment. It is being developed as a one-hour drama series through Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.
Representatives for Max and Warner Bros. Television declined to comment.
Cody is best known as the writer of the critically acclaimed comedy Juno, for which she won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Her other films include Jennifer’s Body, Tully and Young Adult. She also co-wrote the Amazon comedy series One Mississippi alongside Tig Notaro and Showtime’s United States of Tara with Toni Collette.
She is repped by WME, MXN and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.
O’Connell previously created and starred in the semi-autobiographical Netflix series “Special,” based on his memoir “I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.” The series received two Emmy nominations during its two-season run on Netflix. His other writing credits include Queer as Folk on Peacock (which he also starred in), The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix and the Will & Grace revival on NBC.
He is repped by CAA, Entertainment 360 and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Both Cody and O’Connell will serve as executive producers in addition to writing Anon Pls. DeuxMoi will executive produce alongside Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Leigh London Redman of Berlanti Productions. Warner Bros. Television is the studio, with Berlanti Productions currently in an overall deal with WBTV.
DeuxMoi started as an anonymous Instagram account about fashion and pop culture, but after one of its creators asked his followers to anonymously share celebrity gossip with them, the account’s popularity exploded. DeuxMoi now has over two million followers on Instagram alone and regularly shares celebrity sightings and stories. The account creators have chosen to remain anonymous.
“Anon Pls,” written by DeuxMoi with Jessica Goodman, was published in November 2022 by William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins. The book’s official summary states:
“When Cricket Lopez, assistant to one of the most notorious celebrity stylists, revamps her old-fashioned Instagram account on a drunken whim and turns it into a celebrity gossip blog, she never thinks anything will come of it. It’s just a way to blow off steam after a really horrible day at work where her nightmare boss yells at her and blames her for an 18-year-old influencer’s mistake. But when the account grows overnight and, even wilder, she starts getting gossip from fans — juicy gossip — she’s forced to face the facts: Her Instagram is now famous. She is now famous. Although no one knows she is behind the account, her newfound success is affecting her real life. Her boss wonders why she’s disappearing at work, her friends are increasingly irritated by her commitment to the account, and celebrities, investors and journalists approach her with beaming interest. She also meets a hot new love interest through her online persona – although she has no idea if she can really trust his motives. But as the account grows and becomes more and more famous, she has to ask herself: Is it – the fame, the insider access, the escape from real life – really worth losing everything she has?”