EXCLUSIVE: Hulu has given a pilot order to Chicks, a family dramedy starring Grey’s Anatomy‘s Ellen Pompeo, which she’ll exec produce alongside her Good American Family collaborator Katie Robbins and Calamity Jane partner Laura Holstein, with 20th Television as the studio.
Written by Robbins, Chicks is set in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of old Boston. It follows Chickie (Pompeo) and Doreen, two estranged half-sisters who are both struggling to get by when their wise guy dad unexpectedly kicks the bucket. Their only inheritance is a legacy of two-bit crime that inspires them to run increasingly audacious frauds. As their con grows, so does their odd-couple bond, as they each start to fill the father-shaped hole in the other’s heart.
Chicks is based on an original idea from Robbins that she developed specifically for Pompeo, inspired by conversations the two had on set of their first project together, the Hulu limited series Good American Family, which premiered last March, amassing 6.3 million views in its first six days on the platform.
The pilot, which is eying a September start of production in New York, is one of several to emerge recently from Hulu, which a little over a year and a half ago reverted to a more traditional pilot model in lieu of straight-to-series orders that had became prelevant at the height of the streaming wars. Chicks joins recent Hulu pilot orders which include the reality TV-themed comedy Lex, the drama Durango from Y: The Last Man’s Eliza Clark as well as a drama adaptation of the graphic novel Southern Bastards, from Jason Aaron and Jason Latour, and Ryan Coogler’s X-Files reboot, both with Onyx.
Pompeo has long been part of the Disney family. She is known for her role as Meredith Grey in Grey’s Anatomy, the longest-running primetime medical drama on TV, which is headed to its 23rd season on ABC. Pompeo continues to recur and narrate Grey’s Anatomy and is an executive producer on the original Shonda Rhimes series and on its upcoming spinoff set in West Texas, which premieres in midseason 2027. Pompeo previously exec produced the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff Station 19, which ran for seven seasons, and Good American Family whose finale became Hulu’s third most-watched of all time. She is repped by CAA, Linden Entertainment, and Hansen Jacobson.
Robbins served as the creator and showrunner of Good American Family and is also known for creating Apple TV and A24’s dark comedy Sunny, starring Rashida Jones. Her previous work includes being an EP on an untitled Hedy Lamarr limited series for Apple and the #2 on The Affair for Showtime. She is repped by UTA, Aaron Kogan Management, and Jonathan Shikora of Lichter, Grossman, Nichols.
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