The Max series based on DeuxMoi’s novel “Anon Pls” has attached Diablo Cody and Ryan O’Connell to serve as writers, PvNew has learned from sources.
As initially reported in May 2022, the project is currently set up at Max with a script-to-series commitment. It is being developed as a one-hour drama series via Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.
Reps for Max and Warner Bros. Television declined to comment.
Cody is best known for writing the critically-acclaimed comedy feature “Juno,” for which she won the Academy Award for best original screenplay in 2008. Her other films include “Jennifer’s Body,” “Tully,” and “Young Adult.” She also co-created the Amazon comedy series “One Mississippi” alongside Tig Notaro and Showtime’s “United States of Tara” starring 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 show earned two Emmy nominations during its two-season run at Netflix. His other writing credits include “Queer as Folk” at Peacock (in which he also starred), “The Baby-Sitters Club” at Netflix, and the “Will & Grace” revival at 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 along with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Leigh London Redman of Berlanti Productions. Warner Bros. Television is the studio, with Berlanti Productions currently under an overall deal at WBTV.
DeuxMoi started out as an anonymous Instagram account about fashion and pop culture, but after one of its creators asked followers to share celebrity gossip with them anonymously, the account’s popularity exploded. DeuxMoi now has over two million followers on Instagram alone and regularly shares celebrity sightings and stories. The creators of the account have chosen to remain anonymous.
“Anon Pls,” which was written by DeuxMoi with Jessica Goodman, was published in November 2022 by William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins. The official synopsis for the book states:
“When Cricket Lopez, assistant to one of the most notorious celebrity stylists, revamps her old style Instagram account and turns it into a celebrity gossip blog on a drunken whim, she never thinks it will become anything. It’s just a way to blow off steam after a terrible, terrible day at work where her nightmarish boss screams at her and blames her for some 18-year-old influencer’s screw-up. But when the account grows overnight and, even wilder, when she starts getting gossip from fans — juicy gossip — she has to face facts: her Instagram is now famous. She is now famous. Though no one knows that she is behind the account, its newfound success is affecting her real life. Her boss wonders why she’s disappearing on the job, her friends are increasingly irritated by her dedication to the account, and she has celebrities, investors, and journalists approaching her with bright-eyed interest. Plus, there’s a steamy new love interest who she meets through her online persona — except she has no idea if she can truly trust his motives. But as the account grows and becomes more and more famous, she has to wonder: is it — the fame, the insider access, the escape from real life — really worth losing everything she has?”
