Hulu has ordered Dan Levy and Ally Pankiw’s Standing By to series from 20th Television Animation. The series order is on the heels of several productions from 20th Television Animation for Hulu Originals, including Solar Opposites (which was just picked up for a fifth season), Futurama and Koala Man, which premieres January 9.
“Standing By is about the hilarity, embarrassment, and melodrama of everyday life as observed by a team of judgmental, gossip-starved Guardian Angels,” Levy and Pankiw explained. “We are very excited to bring this world to life with the help of Hulu, 20th Television Animation, and Bento Box Entertainment. Not to mention an insanely brilliant cast of actors.”
Levy will executive produce the series, which comes from his previous overall deal at ABC Signature, under his Not A Real Production Company banner.
Standing By is a satirical look into the lives of a group of eternally bound, disgruntled guardian angels and the lessons they’ll eventually learn from not only the dysfunctional humans they’re in charge of protecting but also each other.
The series stars Levy, Emmy winner David Tennant (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, DuckTales, Doctor Who), Natalie Palamides (The Powerpuff Girls), three-time Golden Globe winner Glenn Close, Poppy Liu (Hacks) and Samira Wiley (Orange Is the New Black).
Dan Levy and Ally Pankiw are creators and executive producers, with Danielle Uhlarik as showrunner and executive producer. The series is produced by 20th Television Animation.
Multihyphenate Emmy Award-winning showrunner, writer, actor, director and producer Daniel Levy is best known for hit CBC sitcom Schitt’s Creek (streaming on Hulu) which he co-created with his father, Eugene Levy. He Recently launched Not a Real Production Company, which debuted its first series, The Big Brunch, on HBO Max in November. The company has several projects in various stages of development including Standing By and Levy’s directorial debut Good Grief (Netflix). The company recently began its new overall TV deal with Netflix, where it also has a first-look feature film deal.
Ally Pankiw made her TV directing debut with Netflix’s Feel Good. She directed and executive produced the show’s first season, which was critically acclaimed as one of the best series of 2020. Pankiw has since directed on Hulu’s Shrill, The Great and is currently in post-production on her first film, I Used To Be Funny (previously titled Brooke & Sam). Pankiw is represented by WME, Partizan, and Hirsch Wallerstein. Levy and Pankiw first collaborated on Schitt’s Creek, where Pankiw served as a story editor for two seasons.
Danielle Uhlarik recently inked a script deal with 20th Television Animation and is currently an executive producer on Hulu’s animated series Solar Opposites. She previously worked on Champaign, Ill and co-developed the animated series Wallflower for 20th Television Animation and Freeform. She created, executive produced and starred in the Sundance-selected independent pilot Bootstrapped. Uhlarik comes out of the Chicago comedy scene where she trained at Second City, iO, the Annoyance Theatre and Northwestern University. She is represented by Artists First, UTA and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
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