Adam Brody to Star in Neil LaBute Romance Drama BILLY & BILLIE for DirecTV

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Adam Brody and Lisa Joyce will star in a new DIRECTV romantic drama series written, directed and produced by playwrigiht Neil LaBute.

Titled BILLY & BILLIE, the 10-episode drama will follow "two young adults, Billy (Brody) and Billie (Joyce), as they fall in love. They face the usual barrage of attention from their friends and family, and the normal anxieties that come at the beginning of a new relationship - which are all further complicated by the fact that they're stepbrother and sister."

Commented Chris Long, senior vp original content and production at DirecTV, "We are excited to offer Billy & Billie to our viewers, as this is exactly the type of provocative and intriguing programing that they have come to expect from Audience Network. This is our third collaboration with Neil LaBute. We could not be more thrilled to be working with him again and look forward to additional projects in the future as our relationship continues to mature."

Adds LaBute: "I feel extremely lucky to be doing my third project with DirecTV. Bart Peters and Chris Long have been good enough to repeatedly give me a blank canvas to work on in the medium of television, and their trust has resulted in two wonderful experiments in form and content. I can't wait to work on this new series with them as we continue to try and push the boundaries of what American television can and should be."

Prolific playwright and filmmaker Neil LaBute is the author of the renowned plays The Shape of Things, Fat Pig, Reasons to Be Happy, and Reasons to Be Pretty, the latter of which served as his Broadway debut in 2009, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. On stage, he previously directed his plays The Mercy Seat, Wrecks, and The Shape of Things. For film, LaBute wrote and directed the Cannes Palme d'Or finalist Nurse Betty, Your Friends & Neighbors, The Shape of Things, and In the Company of Men, for which he won the Independent Spirit Award and New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Feature. He also directed the hit dark comedy Death at a Funeral. LaBute is currently the Playwright-in-Residence at MCC Theater.

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