Paramount Television and Anonymous Content will develop Caitlin Doughty’s New York Times Best-Selling memoir “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: and Other Lessons from the Crematory,” the two companies announced on Wednesday.
The memoir takes a behind-the-scenes look at Doughty, a twenty-something mortician with a degree in Medieval history and a flair for the macabre who takes a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work.
“Caitlin is one of the most original literary voices of our day, and we take great pride in collaborating with her to create a show that explores her unique perspective on death with the same humorous and engaging style that defines her memoir,” said Paramount TV president Amy Powell.
Now a licensed mortician with an alternative funeral practice, Caitlin argues that our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways to deal with death (and our dead).
Evan Dunsky will be writer and showrunner for the pilot and series. Anonymous Content’s Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, Rosalie Swedlin and Alex Goldstone will serve as executive producers, while Doughty will serve as a consulting producer.
Dunsky co-created the Showtime hit series “Nurse Jackie,” which is in its seventh and final season. He serves as executive producer on the Netflix series “Hemlock Grove” and is writing a new half-hour comedy for HBO.
Doughty is a licensed funeral director in Los Angeles. She’s the host and creator of the “Ask a Mortician” web series and the collective Order of the Good Death. “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: and Other Lessons from the Crematory” is published by W.W. Norton & Company.
In 2014, Paramount TV and Anonymous Content entered into a three-year production deal giving Paramount Television first-look rights to produce and distribute scripted television programming developed by Anonymous Content for broadcast, premium cable, cable and online audiences.
Most recently the two companies announced that Emmy Award-winning director Cary Fukunaga will direct and executive produce their first collaboration under the deal, “The Alienist,” along with Academy Award-winner Eric Roth and Oscar-nominee Hossein Amini.
Doughty is represented by Anna Sproul-Latimer of the Ross Yoon Agency and Jody Hotchkiss of Hotchkiss & Associates. Dunsky is represented at CAA, Anonymous Content and by attorney Adam Kaller.