Apple TV+ is banking on some gutsy women.
In a competitive situation, the streaming service has ordered a straight-to-series order for an event docuseries from Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea Clinton based on their best-selling book, The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience.
The Clinton women will host and exec produce the series, which is expected to spotlight a collection of trailblazing women, much as the 2019 book did with everyone from Harriet Tubman to Greta Thunberg. It is not yet clear who the TV iteration will include and the precise format it will take.
The series, immediately high profile given its two hosts, comes as part of a considerable push by Apple to make a splash in the non-scripted and docuseries space. The streamer has already made headlines with its The Oprah Conversation series, which recently released an intimate interview with Barack Obama on the eve of his book A Promised Land‘s release. It’s also inked a lucrative deal for a timely series fronted by Jon Stewart, which is expected to stream in 2021.
Though Apple hardly has a lock on the sub-genre — see Netflix’s pacts with both the Obamas and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle via their production companies — the desire to pay richly and make a splash with mega-cultural stars is somewhat reminiscent of a Netflix strategy once employed in such areas as stand-up comedy. On the doc front, Apple has made noise with its acclaimed docs including Boys State and Beastie Boys Story.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter