Mindy Kaling Teams Up With Netflix For A Coming-Of-Age Comedy Series Based On Her Own Childhood
Awkward teenage years never were so funny.Mindy Kalingand Netflix are teaming up to develop a coming-of-age comedy series based on theLate Nightstar’s childhood. Co-created by Kaling andThe Mindy ProjectcollaboratorLang Fisher, the untitled 10-episode series will follow the trials and tribulations of a first generation Indian American teenage girl.
Netflix has given a series order to a new coming-of-age comedy series co-created by Kaling and Fisher, with the latter serving as showrunner, according toVariety. Kaling announced via Twitter that she and Fisher will be bringing “lots of relatable, awkward teen moments” in the series, which will be inspired by Kaling’s own childhood growing up as a first-generation Indian American in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Kaling was approached by Netflix to do a series based on her life, but she admitted in aprevious interview withVariety that she wasn’t interested in doing a period piece. The show’s premise has since been tweaked to take place in contemporary day. “Netflix approached me about doing a series on young Mindy,” she said.““I wasn’t as interested in telling a period piece about an Indian girl growing up in the ’80s, but I told them I’d love to do a show about a 15 year old Indian girl now.”
This will be Kaling’s second collaboration with Fisher afterThe Mindy Project, which Kaling created executive produced and starred in for three seasons on Fox and three on Hulu. However, Kaling likely won’t be starring in this forthcoming untitled series, though it’s possible that — like other coming-of-age sitcoms based on celebrities' childhoods likeEverybody Hates ChrisandFresh Off the Boat— Kaling will be starring in a voiceover capacity. However, with the series being only loosely inspired by Kaling’s life, perhaps she’ll only stay behind the camera.
The series was set up under Kaling’s overall deal with Universal Television before Kaling recently exited the deal for a pay increase with Warner Bros. TV. However, Universal is still set to produce the series, which will add to Netflix’s increasingly diverse slate (at theloss of a few beloved shows). No cast or release date has yet been set for the series.
