‘Fake Accounts’ Series Adaptation In The Works From Ben Sinclair, Jen Silverman, Julia Garner & AC Studios

EXCLUSIVE: High Maintenance co-creator Ben Sinclair and Tales of the City writer Jen Silverman are adapting Lauren Oyler’s conspiracy theory novel Fake Accounts as a series.

The pair have teamed up with Ozark star Julia Garner, who will produce through her new production banner, and Anonymous Content’s AC Studios to develop the project.

Playwright Silverman, who wrote plays such as Witch and The Roommate and is developing feature Sybil Exposed for Annapurna, will write and exec produce the series with Sinclair, who co-created, starred in and directed HBO weed comedy High Maintenance, directing the pilot episode and exec producing.

AC Studios will serve as the studio and will produce with Garner’s Alma Margo. Garner will exec produce alongside Rowan Riley with Oyler also exec producing with AC Studios’ Whitney Dibo.

Fake Accounts, which was published by Catapult in February 2021, follows a young woman who, on the eve of Trump’s inauguration, snoops through her boyfriend’s phone and makes a startling discovery: he’s an internet conspiracy theorist, and a popular one at that. Already fluent in internet fakery, irony, and outrage, the nameless protagonist is not exactly shocked by the revelation. Actually, she’s relieved—he was always a little unknowable—and she plots to end their floundering relationship while on a self-congratulatory sojourn to the Women’s March in DC. But uncovering his double life is only the first in a series of bizarre twists that expose a world where truths are shaped by online lies.

“We inhaled Lauren Oyler’s debut novel and found it chock-full of searing, hilarious, ultimately brilliant observations about the devil’s bargain we’ve all made living our lives online,” said Anonymous Content Chief Creative Officer David Levine. “She has captured the zeitgeist of our recent past in the pages of this book, deploying her unmatched critical eye and talent for putting words around what we’re all feeling but can’t name. We’re thrilled to bring her incisive book to TV with such an all-star creative team.”

Silverman is represented by UTA and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Sinclair is represented by UTA, Range Media Partners and Kim Jaime at Jackoway Austen Tyerman. Garner is represented by UTA, Anonymous Content, and Sloane Offer. Oyler is represented by CAA on behalf of Alia Hanna Habib of The Gernert Company.