HBO has ordered a half-hour comedy pilot entitled “Togetherness,” to be written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass. The concept is two couples living together under one roof and struggling to keep their relationships alive while pursuing their individual dreams. Sounds like the Duplass brothers are sticking to what works with more reality-based relationship humor.
This will be the first small-screen experiment for the duo, who have specialized in low-budget feature comedies, typically centering on men-children in existential crisis, like “Cyrus” and “Jeff, Who Lives At Home.” Neither Jay nor Mark has any plans to act in the new pilot, though both have historically liked to appear on screen from time to time. Though Mark is the one who has the more rounded out acting CV, appearing last year in "Zero Dark Thirty," "Safety Not Guaranteed," "People Like Us" and "Darling Companion."
HBO may be looking to beef up its comedy offerings in the wake of “Girls”' success. The network has already picked up the Steven Merchant comedy “Hello Ladies” to series, and also ordered pilots for “People In New Jersey” from Lorne Michaels and Jason Reitman, as well as an untitled project about a group of gay friends in San Francisco from David Marshall Grant. Whether "Togetherness" makes it to series or not we'll have to wait and see, but as always the talent is top notch at the network, and we'll be eager to see how it turns out. [THR]
