Starz to Develop PUSSY VALLEY Series from Playwright Katori Hall

At today's Starz Television Critics Association (TCA) presentation at the Beverly Hilton, Starz President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Albrecht announced the series development of PUSSY VALLEY. The scripted, one-hour drama takes an unflinching and unapologetic look at the lives of pole dancers working down in the Dirty Delta.

Creator and writer Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Hurt Village, The Blood Quilt) will executive produce "Pussy Valley" with Chernin Entertainment's Peter Chernin ("New Girl," Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Heat); Jenno Topping (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Spy, Charlie's Angels); and Dante di Loreto ("Glee," "American Horror Story," "The Normal Heart"). Khaliah Neal (3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets, Hard World for Small Things, "Famous Farrah") will serve as consulting producer.

"We're excited to work with Katori Hall who has successfully created exciting and complex roles for black women in the American theater and we're confident she'll continue to do so with 'Pussy Valley,'" said Carmi Zlotnik, Managing Director of Starz.

Set in an infamous Mississippi "shake junt" called the Pink Pony, "Pussy Valley" is an intimate window to the unexplored southern strip club world, where the desires of pro-ballers and politicians collide with the dreams of five brave women. For these women, the line between performance and reality becomes blurred, as the drama of their outside lives threaten their onstage personas. On the quest for money, power, and respect, each woman must make a choice. For some it's a step down, for others a step up, as the Pink Pony stage constantly shape-shifts between a platform for freedom and a gilded cage. In this world of smoke and mirrors, who will fall and who will fly?

Senior Vice President of Original Programming Marta Fernandez will serve as the Starz executive in charge of "Pussy Valley."

About Starz Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA, STRZB) is a leading integrated global media and entertainment company with operating units that provide premium subscription video programming on domestic U.S. pay television networks (Starz Networks) and global content distribution (Starz Distribution), www.starz.com. The Starz Networks operating unit is home to the flagship STARZ® brand with 24.2 million subscribers in the United States as of June 30, 2016, with the Starz ENCORESM network at 31.8 million subscribers. Through STARZ, the company provides high quality, entertaining premium subscription video programming with 17 premium pay TV channels and associated on-demand and online services. Starz is sold through U.S. multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, telecommunications companies, and other online and digital platforms. Starz offers subscribers more than 5,000 distinct premium television episodes and feature films every year and up to 1,500 every month, including Starz Original series, first-run movies and other popular movie and television programming. The Starz Distribution operating unit is home to the Anchor Bay Entertainment, Starz Digital, and Starz Worldwide Distribution divisions. In addition to Starz Original series, Starz Distribution develops, produces and acquires movies, television and other entertainment content for worldwide home video, digital, and television licensing and sales.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski