Country music star Walker Hayes is getting the the small screen treatment. The musician, who earned the Sync of the Year award fromPvNew‘s 2021 Hitmakers event for his song “Fancy Like,” will be the inspiration behind a scripted drama in development from Untitled Entertainment. Untitled has acquired the life rights of Hayes, who will also exec produce the project along with Untitled.
Screenwriter Justin D. James will write and exec produce the project. James also has several other projects in development through Untitled, including an action thriller and a soap drama series.
The Hayes project will follow an aspiring musician inspired by Hayes’ journey. Hayes himself rose from “addiction, poverty, loss and a crisis of faith” to becoming a Nashville sensation thanks to “Fancy Like,” a shout-out to Applebee’s restaurants that became a hit thanks in part to a TikTok video of him dancing with his daughter Lela to the song.
“My wife Laney and I have had such a wild life and love story,” Hayes said in a statement. “We reflect all the time together, wondering how in the world we got here. The amount of brokenness versus beautiful lends itself to endless amounts of stories to explore. I can’t think of an emotion we haven’t felt together. We never could have imagined a company like Untitled would want to create a scripted drama about our life. Their willingness to welcome and include us in the process has been beyond encouraging.”
Hayes is repped by Robert Carlton and Marissa Turk at Smack, Aaron Tannenbaum and Alex Sera at WME and Landon Dirickson of Dirickson Law.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be working with a talent of such magnitude in Walker Hayes,” Untitled’s Laura Notarianni and Michael Rosenberg said in a joint statement. “His powerful story is one that is inspirational, heartfelt and harrowing, showcasing the tenacity of the human spirit. An uplifting series like this is just what audiences need right now. Walker and Justin are the ideal creative pairing to dig into the truth of what it’s like to get knocked down and get back up time and time again. To persevere, fight for their families and make their creative dreams come true.”
