Skateboarding Comedy Based on 'Skate Kitchen' Picked Up to Series at HBO
HBO is ready to shred.
The premium cable network has handed out a six-episode series order to Betty, the formerly untitled skateboarding comedy inspired by the 2018 indie feature Skate Kitchen, and has set the cast of the pic — Rachelle Vinberg, Nina Moran, Moonbear, Dede Lovelace and Ajani Russell — to star on the show.
The series is set against the backdrop of New York City and follows a diverse group of young women navigating their lives through the predominantly male-oriented world of skateboarding.
Crystal Moselle (Skate Kitchen) and Lesley Arfin (Love) co-created the series and serve as writers and executive producers. Moselle will also direct. Igor Srubshchik and Jason Weinberg will also exec produce; Michael Sherman and Matthew Perniciaro of Bow & Arrow Entertainment will co-exec produce alongside RT Features' Rodrigo Teixeira. Kotva Films' Izabella Tzenkova and Lizzie Nastro will produce the series, which hails from Untitled Entertainment and Arfin Material. Production has already begun in New York.
Vinberg will reprise her Skate Kitchen role and play Camille, who wants to be down with the dudes and has fought hard for the small space she’s carved out with them. Camille isn’t big on flashy displays of love or loyalty, but she’s perceptive and intelligent, and will notice tiny details about others as if she were a poet. Camille forgives but doesn’t forget, and she’d be happier if she’d only realize that cool points don’t actually add up to the sum of anything.
Moran will also reprise her Skate Kitchen role and play Kirt, the funniest person alive but even if she knew it, she wouldn’t care. She’s a lover (to the ladies), a fighter (to the rest of the world) and a little kid in the body of a woman. Kirt would give you the shirt off her back in the middle of a snowstorm without you having to ask for it. According to Kirt, you did ask for it, only with your mind, and you think she might actually be right.
Moonbear (who played Ruby in the film) will play Honeybear, the quiet storm, dark horse. She’s funnier than she thinks, wiser than she appears and as stubborn as a boot on a tire. Her outlandish clothes make a statement, but she sometimes uses her individuality as a cover for the fact that she keeps her emotions on lock.
Lovelace will reprise her Skate Kitchen role as Janay, who is described as opinionated, intelligent and loyal to a fault. She’s a big-hearted, warm girl, the type to give you a hug over a handshake. Janay has a strong will and a determination to lead that both helps and hurts her. At the end of the day, she’s the person you’d pick to be team captain — not because she always wins, but because she’d buy you a drink after the game no matter the score.
Russell rounds out the cast and steps back into the shoes of Indigo, who is described as fun, flirty and always down for an adventure. She is the equivalent of the post-sex cigarette — cool, calming and sexy as fuck. While she’s naturally conflict-avoidant with a low-drama personality, Indigo somehow manages to crop dust everyone around her in the stuff. She’s a street-savvy hustler who leans closer to the edge of shadiness than the others. Indigo’s the type of person who would steal your wallet and then help you look for it.
The series pickup arrives as HBO continues to increase its scripted originals as new corporate parent WarnerMedia bolsters originals in a bid to compete with Netflix and several other upstart streamers in the years ahead.
Betty joins a growing roster of scripted originals that also includes Ballers, Barry, Euphoria, Gentleman Jack, High Maintenance, His Dark Materials, Insecure, Los Espookys, Lovecraft Country, Mare of Easttown, Mrs. Fletcher, The Nevers, My Brilliant Friend, The Plot Against America, Perry Mason, Righteous Gemstones, Succession, Westworld and Watchmen, among others.
A premiere date for Betty has not been determined.
