"Open" TV drama series to start filming for HBO

Tristan Taormino's Opening Up website alerts us to this:

Vague but potentially important news from HBO: a pilot for a show called “Open” has been ordered to be shot this fall.

Described as a “multi-character exploration of the complex, ever-evolving landscape of sexuality, monogamy, and intimacy in relationships,” the project was written and co-created by Ryan Murphy (creator of Nip/Tuck, Glee, and American Horror Story) and Dexter producer Lauren Gussis. Murphy and Gussis will also serve as executive producers, along with Ryan Murphy Productions president Dante Di Loreto.

Not much else is known about the project so far, but it should be interesting to follow.

Turns out the story was broken by the entertainment-industry website Deadline:

Ryan Murphy’s Provocative Relationship Drama ‘Open’ Lands At HBO With Pilot Order

By Nellie Andreeva

Ryan Murphy

EXCLUSIVE: After fielding interest from multiple networks, Open, the racy new drama spec from Glee and American Horror Story co-creator Ryan Murphy [who is gay], has gone to HBO, which has given it a pilot order. Casting is expected to begin shortly for filming in the fall....

...“I think it is a perfect marriage of an idea and execution,” [HBO president Michael Lombardo said.] “This is an area we’ve been talking about doing something in for some time, and Ryan did it in a way that is enormously engaging. We’re thrilled doing this project with him, Dana and Gary.”

Open revolves around five lead characters, including a married couple of thirtysomethings, the husband’s male co-worker, and a woman in her 40s who is a yoga professional. Murphy said he had been bouncing ideas about a show exploring human relationships when Dante Di Loreto of his company, Ryan Murphy Prods, heard about Gussis working on a similar project and put them together....

Lauren Gussis

“This is really an adult show that is very frank in its depiction of sex.” But that depiction never feels gratuitous, 20th TV chairman Newman adds. “It is a very honest exploration of relationships and intimacy, and the sex feels organic to the subject matter,” he said.

HBO previously tackled the subject of relationships and sexuality with Tell Me You Love Me, though I hear Open takes a completely different approach. “It is a challenge how do talk about relationships and monogamy without feeling navel-gazing and neurotic, and (Murphy and Gussis) figured it out,” Lombardo said.

For Murphy, Open adds to an already full plate that includes three series on the air, which he co-created and executive produces: Fox’s Glee, FX’s AHS, and freshman NBC comedy New Normal....

Read the whole article (April 10, 2013). Not much more info seems available yet.

I'm prepared to be disappointed. (It shoudda been you, Reid.)

A redditor comments, "It's by Ryan Murphy, so odds are he'll find some way to depict Polyamorous people as comical stereotypes. His experience with the subject so far resulted in one of the major depictions of Poly on mainstream television including a murderer and her victim in a triad that lasts for ten minutes of screen time, including said murder. He's not great at depicting anything other than gay assimilationist white men, is what I'm getting at."

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