Jenji Kohan sets Social Distance quarantine anthology series at Netflix

The Hollywood Reporter

Kohan and her Orange Is the New Black team are working on a shortform scripted anthology series inspired by the coronavirus quarantine that is being produced and filmed remotely. According to The Hollywood Reporter's Lesley Goldberg, "producers plan to shoot found-footage style — where every device viewers see visuals from is motivated by story reasons. The audience views the characters as they view their devices. Producers are planning to send what what sources describe as a 'Blue Apron of production' box to actors in quarantine to shoot their content." Orange Is the New Black vet Hilary Weisman Graham will write the scripts and serve as showrunner, while another OITNB vet, Diego Velasco, is set to direct and serve as co-exec producer. "Our job as storytellers is to reflect reality, and in this new, bizarre, bewildering reality we are all experiencing, we feel passionate about finding connection as we all remain at a distance," the producers said in a statement. "We've been inspired to create an anthology series that tells stories about the current moment we are living through — the unique, personal, deeply human stories that illustrate how we are living apart, together. We are challenging ourselves to do something new: To create and produce virtually so that our cast and crew can stay healthy and safe. Writers never physically meet during the writing process. Our director, Diego Velasco, directs our talent remotely. Our showrunner, Hilary Weisman Graham, runs production from her living room. The cast not only acts, but also films themselves at home. The experience of social distancing is currently universal, but no individual story is the same. Through a broad spectrum of tales and moments, some seismic and some mundane, we hope to capture a moment in time. And we hope that Social Distance will help people feel closer to one another."