Spike Lee is gearing up to shop around a new TV series with tech entrepreneur and multi-hyphenate rising star Chad Sanders, according to sources.
The series, titled “Archer,” is a dark comedy and sociological thriller capturing the life of a 20-something African-American coding genius and iconoclast living in Brooklyn who has developed a dating app that reads sexual chemistry. The central character is described as a “young, black Mark Zuckerberg-like protagonist,” and the story will travel between New York, Silicon Valley, and Berlin’s famously sexual environment.
The project is loosely based on the life of Sanders, a tech entrepreneur who formerly served as a partner and head of business development at Dev Bootcamp, an intensive coding school that was eventually sold to Kaplan for double-digit millions. Sanders spent the first four years of his career with Google. He recently founded the business development agency Archer Genius Management, which is the basis for the title of the series.
Sanders is the creator and star of the series, in addition to serving as executive producer, writer, and director. Lee is on board to direct the pilot episode and will executive produce through his 40 Acres and A Mule Filmworks production banner. Sanders and Lee, who both coincidentally graduated from Morehouse College, first met through a mutual family friend.
The series will be pitched to a wide variety of networks, and no particular platform is being eyed at this point.
For Lee, “Archer” marks the filmmaker’s latest television project, following his upcoming Netflix series “She’s Gotta Have It,” which launches this November.
Sanders is repped by WME and managed by Oronde Garrett at Headshell Management. Lee is repped by ICM.
Source: Variety
