EXCLUSIVE: Top UK DJ Calvin Harris has teamed with Will Smith and Jay-Z for Higher, a half-hour comedy series project that has been set up at HBO for development. Written by Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh and developed with Harris’ help, the fictional comedy is set in the world of electronic music. It comes from Overbrook Entertainment, Three Six Zero Group and Marcy Media, with Overbrook’s James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith and Miguel Melendez serving as executive producers alongside Three Six Zero Group’s Mark Gillespie and Dean Wilson, along with Harris and Marcy Media’s Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Jay Brown, and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith. This expands the
relationship between Smith and Jay-Z who also are producing together the upcoming feature musical Annie. Harris is a Grammy award winning songwriter and producer, who was the first DJ to win the Ivor Novello Songwriter Of The Year Award. He has two more Grammy nominations this year, Best Dance Recording for Sweet Nothing, and Best Dance/Electronica Album for 18 Months. Released last October, 18 Months has sold over 1m albums and 28 million singles worldwide. The album produced 9 UK top 10 singles, including We Found Love feat. Rihanna, breaking Michael Jackson’s record for the most Top 10 singles from one album (7). Harris is managed by six-year-old Three Six Zero Group where he was the first client.





Nine non-writing producers for a single-cam comedy on HBO? This show will never see the light of day. What the hell are Miguel and Jada actually doing to earn an EP credit, just existing?
Mark Wahlberg begs to differ.
EP = money people. Throw in a bunch of cash, they give you an EP credit. If they just had Producer credits, then I’d be questioning.
Not in TV bro…
This isn’t 1985.
You only needed Irvine Welsh… adding these other idiots actually kills the cred.
Why is Calvin teaming up with an O.A.P ? Irvine Welsh is so old he missed out on seeing his team win The cup by only 50 years.
Creepy Will up to his crazy antics again.
Irvine Welsh deserves better.
WTF, Calvin Harris please do not take a giant dump on EDM by teaming up by HBO. This show better not ever see the light of day, please GOD please! I’m pissed off enough about Diplo’s movie.
Not sure what all the negativity is about, but EDM is emerging as a mainstream sound faster than ever. Half the pop music on radio today is essentially vocals layer over beats produced by some of today’s hottest up and coming Electronic Dance DJ’s/producers. I think that Harris and Smith can combine the best of both worlds when it comes to sound and humour respectively. Not sure where Jay-Z fits in yet, but like most of his projects, it’s likely going to be a success. Furthermore, the explosive growth of the EDM culture over the past decade suggests that it’s only a matter of time before it touches in more ways than just warehouse parties and raves. It’s no longer a subculture, but rather becoming a leading format in the music industry, so why not have fun with it, and share it beyond the limited media and formats it has been confined to for so long!!!
It won’t be long before we see a global carriage satellite TV channel dedicated solely to EDM, and this kind of sitcom will be the programming content it will need to support it’s existence. You can only follow DJ’s and club scenes for so long, the format will require diversification in programming, so why not half a laugh along the way, and gain a view of the EDM scene from a completely new angle…
I hope the pilot makes it to air, and I certainly won’t miss a minute of it. It may be a risky programming decision for HBO, but who ever got anywhere by not taking risks… And now is the time for this kind of thing, and I expect we will be seeing much more of it!!!
Ari Tietolman