EXCLUSIVE: HBO is betting on Advantage Player, landing a gambling-themed drama starring and executive produced by Riley Keough in a competitive situation. The project, inspired by real-life advantage player Gina Fiore, comes from Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res. It is written and executive produced by Will Graham.
Advantage Player reunites Keough and Graham who worked together on Prime Video’s limited series Daisy Jones & the Six, in which Keough played the title role and Graham executive produced and co-showran. Both earned Emmy nominations, in the Lead Actress In a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and Limited Series categories, respectively.
In Advantage Player, written by Graham who will serve as showrunner, when a brilliant misfit (Keough) discovers the secret to beating casinos at their own game, she’s pulled into a world of obsessive outlaws who all live by one rule: the only way to beat the system is to outplay the people who built it.
Keough and Gina Gammell executive produce via their Felix Culpa banner alongside Fiore, Graham, Tonia Davis and Max Linsky for Invitation Media, and Media Res’ Ellenberg and Christina Malach. Media Res is the co-studio alongside HBO.
Advantage player is a person who uses their knowledge and skills to gain an edge over the casino. Fiore chronicled her 24-year experience as a professional gambler in her memoir, Advantage Player: Blackjack, Backrooms, and Beginnings.
The book features a blurb by Keough, in which she wrote, “Gina Fiore has lived a life that seems too extraordinary to be true. Her journey is as gripping as any screenplay because every impossible twist actually happened. Her story is unforgettable — and Advantage Player is one you won’t soon forget.”
This year, Keough has had two movies premiere at top festivals, Rosebush Pruning in Berlin and Butterfly Jam in Cannes. In TV, she most recently starred in the Hulu limited series Under the Bridge. Keough, whose upcoming movies include Alpha Gang and Out of This World, is repped by CAA and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
Graham is directing Vietnam War thriller Trust the Man, starring Daniel Radcliffe. It marks the first movie for Invitation Media, launched last year, which just scored its first pilot order with the CBS comedy Hilda! (In Lights). Advantage Player is outside of the company’s first-look deal with Amazon. Graham, who also co-created and executive produce Prime Video’s A League of Their Own with Abbi Jacobson, is repped by UTA and Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment.
At HBO, Media Res produced the limited series Scenes From a Marriage, starring Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac, and has another limited series coming up, Damon Lindelof’s The Chain starring Jodie Comer. The company’s upcoming slate also includes the fifth and final season of The Morning Show for Apple TV, Enigma Variations at Netflix, The Dealer at Apple TV and the Hulu pilot Durango.
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