Hulu today announced a straight-to-series pick-up of “Difficult People” from executive producers Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation”) and Dave Becky (“Louie”). The half-hour comedy series marks the first collaboration between Hulu and Universal Cable Productions and is set to start production early next year.
“Difficult People” hails from Julie Klausner (“Billy on the Street”) who stars alongside Emmy®-nominated “Billy on the Street” host Billy Eichner. As best friends living in New York City, their typical, irreverent behavior lands them in some very awkward situations. Klausner wrote the pilot and will also serve as an executive producer for the series.
In addition to the upcoming seventh and final season of “Parks and Recreation,” Poehler and recently announced new partner Brooke Posch’s Paper Kite Productions produces the hit shows “Broad City” on Comedy Central and NBC’s “Welcome to Sweden.”
“I tend to enjoy funny people creating and starring in comedy programs,” says Poehler, “and Julie and Billy are the funniest around.”
“Difficult People” joins Hulu’s growing slate of original programming, including recent straight-to-series pick-up orders for “Casual,” a comedy series from Jason Reitman, and “11/22/63,” an original event series from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, based on Stephen King’s best-selling book.
“Amy Poehler, Billy Eichner, and Julie Klausner are a dream team of comedic possibilities,” adds Craig Erwich, Senior Vice President and Head of Content, Hulu. “We look forward to bringing this hilarious view of the world to Hulu with our partners at Universal Cable Productions.”
The series also joins recent pick-up orders for Universal Cable Productions, which include “Hunters,” “Childhood’s End” and “Magicians” at Syfy; and “Colony,” “Stanistan” and “Mr. Robot” at USA.
“Working with the immensely talented trio of Amy Poehler, Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner on ‘Difficult People’ has been an incredible experience and it definitely delivers on the title of the show in a hysterical way,” says Dawn Olmstead, Executive Vice President, Development, Universal Cable Productions. “We’re excited to collaborate on our first original series with Hulu and are looking forward to doing many more.”
