Amazon's streaming platform will develop the popular New York Times column Modern Love into a series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Per THR, the series will be a comedic anthology. Amazon has ordered eight episodes, all of which will be written, directed, and produced by John Carney (Once).
The Modern Love column, which also has its own podcast, is a weekly column devoted to stories of love in the modern era. Essays featured in the column have gone viral, like the tragic piece titled "You May Want To Marry My Husband." (The essay is a makeshift dating profile for the author's soon-to-be-single husband. The essay's author died ten days after the essay was published, and the essay has already been optioned for a movie.)
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The news comes on the heels of Jennifer Salke's first interview with THR. Salke, who replaced Roy Price as president of Amazon.com's media division this year, told the publication that she's looking for a show "women also can't stop talking about." She also hopes to improve the culture at Amazon, which carries the shadow of sexual harassment looming over it, thanks to Price's resignation last year. Price resigned in October of 2017 following allegations that he'd sexually harassed producer Isa Hackett.
"We are going to have lots of big shows," Salke told THR of her content programming plans. "They're not all going to be genre sci-fi. We're also going to have some big addictive female shows. We're looking for our next big show that women also can't stop talking about." Amazon previously came under fire for canceling a host of women-led shows, including Tig Notaro's series One Mississippi and the beloved Good Girls Revolt (pictured at top). The network also declined to pick up three women-led pilots: Glenn Close's Sea Oak, Bridgett Everett's Love You More, and Diarra Kilpatrick's The Climb. Add to that the controversy surrounding Transparent and the allegations against its star Jeffrey Tambor, and Amazon has an uphill battle.
Is Modern Love the first part of Amazon's push for addictive "female" shows? Not all of Modern Love's content is strictly female-driven, but the column has a distinctly feminine appeal. Plus, majority of the column's authors are women.
Salke added in her THR interview that she and her team are hustling to get shows down the pipeline. "I sent two articles to our drama team to go option, which they are already into," she added.