#bummers

The “History of a Pleasure Seeker” pilot is not moving forward and will not be be picked up to series at Hulu, Variety has learned exclusively.

The show was first ordered to pilot at the streaming service back in March 2022. It was based on the Richard Mason novel of the same name. Per the official logline, the show was a musical drama “set in Amsterdam in 1907, a tale of a charismatic young man’s explosive adventures through all the temptations of the Belle Époque.”

The cast for the pilot included Carla Woodcock, Callum Kerr, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Olumide Olorunfemi, and Bebe Bettencourt.

“History of a Pleasure Seeker” was based on the Richard Mason novel of the same name. Mason adapted the novel for the screen and also served as an executive producer. Julie Anne Robinson directed and executive produced the pilot. Christopher Read executive produced in addition to serving as composer. Fremantle executive produced along with Jimmy Mulville of Hat Trick Productions and Michael Gracey. ABC Signature was the studio behind the pilot.

The decision to not move forward with the pilot comes about one month after Hulu picked up several other shows to series. Those include: a series adaptation of the book “Devil in The White City” with Keanu Reeves attached to star and Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese executive producing; an untitled orphan limited series starring Ellen Pompeo and Imogen Reid; and a series adaptation of the book “The Other Black Girl” with Rashida Jones attached as an executive producer.

I had a friend, from age 12 to 21, who I looked up to tremendously. A lot of things I’m still interested in, like vintage hats, came from doing that mirroring interests thing, and I always thought she was very intelligent and put together and a great writer, even when we were like, 13, but she also made funny faces and took silly selfies. Some of the most memorable (and onliest) hangouts I had in high school were with her, at her house. She introduced me to people and media. She was the friend who was like the version of myself I kind of wanted to be in a lot of ways.

I had a roommate my first year at college, the only year I wasn’t in a private room. She played opera music as her alarm, and let it continue for half an hour, refusing to turn it off or put in headphones because it was “the only time all day she was happy.” She hated the rare occasions when I was up earlier than her and she would hear 30 seconds of country music before I shut my alarm off. She said she hated country music; according to her instagram she now plays the banjo. One time she left the ac blasting and our window open in January, during a snowstorm, for unknown reasons (having already planned to sleep at her sister’s that night). She made a habit of taking things I had initiated and then reworking them into something that didn’t include me. I got her interested in Dungeons and Dragons, and she eventually planned a weekly D&D night in our apartment’s kitchen with her dming- I was asked for feedback on her campaign and characters, but was not invited to play.. She was utterly disinterested in giving feedback on my own writing.

Another time I made plans to see a movie with her and another friend. I bought the tickets, it was all my treat. The other friend had to bow out last minute because of work. Knowing this, and knowing I had spent like $60 on tickets and couldn’t go without a friend because I didn’t have a car, the morning before we were supposed to go she cancelled on me, for a last minute date she was excited about. Neither of us got much romantic attention, so I put on a smile and was only upset when she left. I later learned the date was to see the showing of the same movie that happened half an hour before we were supposed to go. She was pretentious and made me feel lesser for not having seen/read xyz classic- somehow all the classics I consumed that weren’t her direct recommendation were the “bad” ones. She restricted her social circle to ppl she felt were worthy, and left me scrambling to keep up and limiting my own circle as a result.