THR – The series is based on George Huang’s 1994 movie about a Hollywood assistant.
Kiernan Shipka and Diane Kruger are going Swimming With Sharks at Quibi.

The pair will topline the shortform streaming platform’s update of the 1994 Hollywood satire. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star Shipka will play Lou, a young assistant at a Hollywood studio full of manipulators and schemers — none of whom know she is poised to outwit them all.

Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, FX’s The Bridge) will play Joyce, Lou’s boss and the sole head of the studio.

Writer and actress Kathleen Robertson (Little Bee, Netflix’s Northern Rescue) is adapting George Huang’s cult-classic film, which starred Frank Whaley as an assistant who turns the tables on his abusive boss (Kevin Spacey). Robertson, director Tucker Gates (Homeland, The Morning Show) and Chris Cowles (Blockers) are producing the Lionsgate TV series. Dana Brunetti and Liz Destro are executive producing along with Jay Cohen and Stephen Israel, who were EPs on the film.

Shipka currently plays the title role in Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, whose third season debuted in late January (it is renewed through its fourth cycle). The former Mad Men regular’s credits also include Feud: Bette and Joan and the Netflix movie Let It Snow. She is repped by WME, Anonymous Content and Sloane Offer.

Kruger’s recent credits include Welcome to Marwen and JT LeRoy. She is set to star with Lupita Nyong’o and Jessica Chastain in the spy thriller 355, which is set for a 2021 release. Kruger is repped by UTA, UBBA, Untitled Entertainment, Altitude and Peikoff Mahan.

Quibi has not set a premiere date for Swimming With Sharks. The mobile-centric streaming platform is slated to launch April 6 and will offer scripted and unscripted entertainment series and daily news, sports and lifestyle programming for $5 a month with ads and $8 without them.

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