NBCUNIVERSAL TELEVISION AND STREAMING PLACES CROSS-PLATFORM STRAIGHT-TO-SERIES ORDER FOR 'JOE EXOTIC,' STARRING KATE McKINNON

· NBCUniversal Television and Streaming announced straight-to-series order for UCP's adaptation JOE EXOTIC (working title).

· The limited series event will roll out across NBCU's scripted entertainment platforms - NBC, Peacock and USA.

· Etan Frankel ("Sorry for Your Loss," "Shameless") is set to pen the limited series via his overall deal with UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group.

· As previously announced, the series will star Emmy Award winner Kate McKinnon ("Saturday Night Live"), who will also executive produce.

· JOE EXOTIC is written and executive produced by Frankel. McKinnon will executive produce along with Wondery's Hernan Lopez, Marshall Lewy and Aaron Hart.

· Based on the Wondery Podcast of the same name, JOE EXOTIC is a limited series based on true events following Carole Baskin (McKinnon), a big cat enthusiast, who learns that when fellow exotic animal lover Joe "Exotic" Schreibvogel is breeding and using his big cats for profit, she sets out to shut down his venture, inciting a quickly escalating rivalry. But Carole has a checkered past of her own and when the claws come out, Joe will stop at nothing to expose what he sees as her hypocrisy. The results prove dangerous.

· The role of Joe "Exotic" Schreibvogel has not yet been cast.

· Listen to Wondery's JOE EXOTIC podcast here: https://wondery.com/shows/joe-exotic/

MORE INFORMATION:

· Frankel, who will write and executive produce UCP's limited series "Evel," recently finished co-showrunning the second season of the critically acclaimed "Sorry for Your Loss," starring Elizabeth Olsen. Previously, he wrote and produced the first seven seasons of "Shameless." Additional television credits include "Get Shorty," "Animal Kingdom" and "Friday Night Lights." He has been nominated for two Writers Guild Awards. On the stage, Frankel's play "Create Fate" was produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and directed by Christopher Ashley. He is the recipient of the Weissberger Award from the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Dasha Epstein Playwriting Award and has twice been honored with Lincoln Center's Le comte du Nouy Award. Frankel is a graduate of Duke University and the Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. Frankel is represented by A.B. Fischer at Literate and Michael Gendler.

· McKinnon won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2016 and 2017 and recently received her seventh consecutive nomination for her work on "Saturday Night Live." In addition, she earned a Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 2016. McKinnon was nominated for a 2020 SAG Award as part of the ensemble cast of the feature film "Bombshell," alongside Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and John Lithgow. She starred as Jillian Holtzmann in "Ghostbusters," opposite Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones, as well as last summer's sleeper hit "Yesterday" for Danny Boyle, Richard Curtis and Universal, which featured the music of the Beatles. In addition to JOE EXOTIC, McKinnon will also star in the limited series "The Dropout," where she'll portray Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. McKinnon is represented by Artists First, UTA and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller. UTA, who also represents Wondery, negotiated the deal on their behalf.