FX is known for its compelling dramas but the network is trying to gain some non-fiction traction with five new docuseries and one feature documentary.
The subjects on display include Tupac Shakur and his mother, the fight for LGBTQ civil rights in America and the man who possibly was the Zodiac killer. The slate is meant to build on its latest series The Weekly, with The New York Times.
The Tupac Shakur docuseries is called Outlaw: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur and it comes from The Defiant Ones director Allen Hughes. Outlaw will be a five-part series looking at the mother and son and will be told through the eyes of the people who knew them best. The series explores their message of freedom, equality, persecution, and justice.
LGBTQ civil rights in America will be explored in Pride, a six-part docuseries chronicling the fight for those rights that will be told through the lens of history, pop culture, and politics. Each episode will be directed by a different LGBTQ director.
The mystery of the Zodiac killer will be the focus of The Most Dangerous Animal of All, based on the book written by Gary Stewart. The four-part series will explore one man’s search for the father who abandoned him, only to uncover the worst: he believes his father is the Zodiac killer, one of the most infamous serial killers in American history.
Another book adaptation will be the focus of A Wilderness of Error. The book, by Errol Morris, tells the story of Army Surgeon Jeffrey MacDonald, who is sent to prison for killing his family, but who may be innocent. Blumhouse Television will produce the six-part series.
A side of hip-hop culture we rarely see will be explored in Hip Hop Untold. The six-part series will focus on the power brokers who operate from the shadows of hip hop. It will look at the paradox of America’s criminalization of the genre and fascination with the street culture that exists within it and is told from the view of the streets.
The feature documentary that FX is launching will focus on female stand-up comedians. Women In Comedy, from director Andrea Nevins, will examine the changing landscape for women in stand up through intimate interviews and will also explore the form in the post #MeToo world.
