With the current pandemic, networks and streaming services are looking for creative ways to provide content to audiences. With that being said, Netflix seems to have found its latest idea to provide new content for subscribers. The Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan is teaming with the streamer for a scripted anthology series called Social Distance.
Hilary Weisman Graham is set to write the scripts and serve as showrunner, with Diego Velasco set to direct. The producers of the show described the show stating, “Our job as storytellers is to reflect reality, and in this new, bizarre, bewildering reality we are all experiencing, 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. Writers never physically meet during the writing process. Our director, Diego Velasco, directs our talent remotely. Our showrunner, Hilary Weisman Graham, runs production from her living room. The cast not only acts, but also films themselves at home. 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.”
The Hollywood Reporter stated, “the series will be a short-form series that explores what life is like during quarantine amid the novel coronavirus. Insiders note that producers plan to shoot found-footage style — where every device viewers see visuals from is motivated by story reasons. The audience views the characters as they view their devices. Producers are planning to send what sources describe as a “Blue Apron of production” box to actors in quarantine to shoot their content”.
