Netflix has ordered a coming-of-age comedy about Mindy Kaling’s life. Kaling made her first big screen appearance in 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which also coincided with her first appearance on TV as Kelly in the US version of The Office. Her career as a comedic actor has grown immensely since that time, and to date she’s been nominated for six Emmys.
Earlier this year, industry insiders revealed that Netflix may spend $15 billion on content in 2019. The streaming giant has already made it clear that it intends to build up the amount of original content they currently offer subscribers, and a significant part of organizing that programming is a focus on diverse projects, stories, characters and talents. Often crediting her upbringing as the child of immigrants for providing her writing with a dual perspective, Kaling has made considerable efforts throughout the years at showcasing many of the qualities that a streaming platform like Netflix is looking to support.
With that in mind, as well as the obvious degree of success that Kaling has found in a rather short period of time, it’s hardly surprising that Netflix would make the move to do business with her. TV Line has reported that Kaling has just joined forces with Netflix to bring a 10-episode, comedic coming-of-age story based on her own upbringing to life. Written and executive produced by Kaling, the yet-to-be-named series will mark the comedian’s first official project with Netflix.
Coming of age stories aren’t always the easiest to pull off, particularly comedic ones. For her part, however, Kaling has some solid experience with explaining the comedic intricacies of her life, having already written two New York Times best selling memoirs. And while her new Netflix series has yet to reveal any substantial casting information, the day-to-day life of a teenage Indian girl and her immigrant family is certainly familiar territory for Kaling. In addition to this, Kaling’s work as a writer on her series The Mindy Project has provided her with the much needed experience and insight that are required of a successful TV production. Taken as a whole, Kaling seems more than ready and capable to pull off a suitably entertaining Netflix series.
With all that being said, this is still the often-fickle world of entertainment, and it isn’t rare to see programs that should succeed, fail. Kaling definitely appears to have the deck stacked in her favor, as she approaches this project with the sort of qualifications and experience that should help her series become more than just a standard coming-of-age tale. But with the scale of Netflix’s original programming seemingly growing every day, and with more streaming platforms preparing to launch on a regular basis, Kaling’s new series will have to truly stand out to thrive. Fortunately for her, that’s entirely possible.
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Source: TV Line
