The CW is going back in time with Olivia Munn.
The network is teaming with the actress to develop an untitled 1970s female sportscaster drama, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Set in 1974, the drama revolves around a young journalist who gets hired by an ambitious New York news programming chief as a publicity stunt to be one of the first female on-air sports reporters. She then has to learn to navigate gender politics in front of and behind the camera at a time when women were literally not even allowed in the press box.
Ted Humphrey (The Good Wife) will pen the script and executive produce the CBS Television Studios entry alongside Munn. Stacia Peters will oversee.
Munn started her TV career in journalism before seguing to acting. She co-hosted Attack of the Show from 2006-10 and was a Daily Show correspondent from 2010-11. She’s a former Fox Sports Net intern and worked as a sideline reporter covering college football and women’s basketball. She’s perhaps best known for her acting role on HBO’s recently concluded Aaron Sorkin drama The Newsroom, where she played a financial journalist for a cable network. Munn will not appear onscreen.
The CW project reunites Peters with Munn, who before Peters was hired to run Munn’s CBS Television Studios-based production company, previously collaborated on HBO’s Newsroom. The CW sale marks the first sale for Munn’s studio-based company.
The Munn project comes as broadcast networks have continued to put the spotlight on underserved communities and explore diversity.
Munn is repped by CAA, Atlas Artists and Jackoway Tyerman. Humphrey (The Nine, Shark, The Unit) is with WME, Industry Entertainment and Hansen Jacobson.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
