‘Skinny Dip’ Series, Based On Carl Hiaasen Novel And Previously A CW Pilot, Now Set At Quibi

Jeffery Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s Quibi has picked up Skinny Dip, a comedy series based on Carl Hiaasen’s 2004 satirical novel. The project had been set up as a drama pilot at the CW in the 2018 cycle but did not move forward there.

The same core group remains attached: Producer Kashet Studios, writers Russel Friend and Garrett Lerner and executive producers Peter Traugott, Rachel Kaplan, Alon Shtruzman, Avi Nir, Friend and Lerner.

The mobile-first content company describes the series as a darkly comedic odyssey of revenge. A jilted woman miraculously survives a night in the open ocean after her husband suddenly flings her overboard on their anniversary cruise. Plucked to safety serendipitously by a retired cop, the two team up to gaslight her husband.

Matt Barr and Ben Aldridge had been cast in the CW pilot, which was being produced by Keshet at CBS TV Studios. KJ Smith and Brent Sexton had also been cast.

The pickup is the latest for Quibi, which most recently Quibi set a deal with The Killing creator Veena Sud to create, write, direct and executive produce The Stranger, a shortform thriller from Fox 21 Television Studios.

Other drama, comedy and nonfiction projects announced in the past couple of weeks include cooking docuseries Shape of Pasta, competition series Biggest Little Cook-Off, a vineyard comedy from Thomas Lennon titled Winos, a Varsity Blues revival, the female-wrestling docuseries Fight Like a Girl, the Darren Criss musical comedy Royalties, the Peter Farrelly comedy The Now, drama series The Fugitive, psychological thriller Blood Orange, and sci-fi drama Don’t Look Deeper and quasi-superhero tale Crazy Talented both from Doug Liman’s 30 Ninjas.