EXCLUSIVE: Jason Schmidt (Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies), Julia Lester (The Four Seasons), and Piper Runge have joined the main cast of the Hulu pilot Chicks, starring Ellen Pompeo and Jodie Whittaker.
Additionally, Max Winkler joins the series as director and executive producer of the pilot. Winkler has directed and executive produced a slew of TV episodes/shows across multiple Ryan Murphy projects, including Love Story, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, American Horror Stories and Grotesquerie. His credits also include The Shards (EP), Feud (Director), American Horror Story (Director), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Director) and New Girl (Director).
From writer and executive producer Katie Robbins, Chicks is a family dramedy set in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of old Boston. It follows Chickie (Pompeo) and Doreen (Whittaker), two estranged half-sisters who are both struggling to get by when their wise guy dad unexpectedly kicks the bucket. Their only inheritance is a legacy of two-bit crime that inspires them to run increasingly audacious frauds. As their con grows, so does their odd-couple bond, as they each start to fill the father-shaped hole in the other’s heart.
Schmidt will play Sally, Jr., who is known to his big half-sisters as “The Squirt.” Sally, Jr. is a finance bro with the heart of a golden retriever. Hungry for his family’s approval, he lashes out when he feels it slipping from his grasp
Lester will play Sinead, who is freshly out of prison for a handful of OUIs (the Massachusetts equivalent of a DUI). The wickedly funny Sinead is ready to help her mom, Doreen, pay the bills and navigate grief, while still struggling to find her own sense of purpose.
Runge played Lori, a chip off her mom Chickie’s block. Lori is a capable, whip-smart nursing student who, after a lifetime of ticking boxes, might be ready to select ‘none of the above.’
Chicks is based on an original idea from Robbins that she developed for Pompeo, inspired by conversations the two had on set of their first project together, the Hulu limited series Good American Family. Pompeo and Robbins exec-produce alongside the latter’s Calamity Jane partner, Laura Holstein.
Schmidt is repped by Luber Roklin and Gersh. Lester is repped by Paradigm, Perennial Entertainment, and Zifferin. Winkler is repped by CAA, Entertainment 360, and Jackoway Austen.
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