David Fincher Shepherding HBO Comedy About 1980s Music Video Industry
Gone Girl‘s David Fincher is revisiting his days as a music video director with a half-hour project at HBO. Tentatively titled Living On Video, the project — which had been in the works at HBO for months — was written by Rich Wilkes (xXx) and Bob Stevenson, a friend of Fincher’s from his music video days, based on an idea by Fincher, who is expected to direct.
Set in 1983 Los Angeles, Living On Video centers on Bobby, a wide-eyed guy who drops out of college and drives to Hollywood with dreams of directing a sci-fi epic. He lands a job as a PA for a company making music videos. In the vein of HBO’s Entourage, the series revolves around the players of the then-exploding music video industry — directors, record executives and crew members, many of them dabbling in drugs — through the eyes of the newcomer.
The script for Living On Video has been completed, with preliminary casting underway, though the project has not officially been greenlighted to pilot.
This is the latest HBO project for Fincher, who also has dramas Utopia, based on the British format, and 1950s Los Angeles noir drama Shakedown with James Ellroy.
Among the memorable 1980s music videos Fincher directed before segueing to features was Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” Wilkes is with Verve.
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