HBO Nabs Comedy ‘Alan Opts Out’ From Emily Kapnek & Bill Lawrence

EXCLUSIVE: HBO is expanding its Bill Lawrence business in the wake of Rooster’s breakout success. In a competitive situation, the premium brand has landed for development Alan Opts Out, a half-hour comedy from Suburgatory creator Emily Kapnek, Lawrence’s Doozer and Warner Bros. Television where Lawrence is under an overall deal. Alan Opts Out is written by Kapnek based on the comedic novel of the same name by Courtney Maum, which was published last month. In it, after losing the biggest account of his career and his grip on reality, visionary ad man Alan Anderson decides to “live off the land” of his suburban Connecticut backyard in a comedy about the sticker price of privilege and one man’s determination to find his way back to a life less transactional. Kapnek is an executive producer and showrunner. Lawrence, Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer executive produce for Doozer; Maum also executive produces. WBTV is the studio. Watch on Deadline Previously, Kapnek created ABC’s Suburgatory, starring Jane Levy and Jeremy Sisto; Selfie, starring Karen Gillan and John Cho; and the American version of Splitting Up Together, starring Jenna Fischer and Oliver Hudson, and co-created Emily’s Reasons Why Not, headlined by Heather Graham. Gillan and Cho are part of the voice cast of Kapnek’s upcoming Disney+ animated series Rhona Who Lives By the River. She is repped by CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Doozer’s first comedy series for HBO, Rooster starring Steve Carell, which Lawrence co-created, has been renewed for a second season after a strong ratings start earlier this year. The company has several other on-air series, Ted Lasso, Shrinking and Bad Monkey on Apple TV, the Scrubs reboot on ABC and the upcoming I Suck At Girls at Netflix. Lawrence is repped by CAA and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.