
EXCLUSIVE: From a hit blog post to a book to a TV series. In a competitive situation, ABC has nabbed Tracy McMillan’s single-camera comedy Why You’re Not Married with a script commitment plus penalty. DreamWorks TV, which developed the project, will produce it with ABC Studios. McMillan, whose series credits include Mad Men and the DreamWorks TV-produced United States Of Tara, will write Why You’re Not Married, an ensemble comedy that explores the current state of modern American love — especially the dynamic between the millions of attractive chicks between the ages of 25 and 45 who want to be married… and the men who seemingly refuse to commit to them. The project, described as “a brutally honest look at love,” stems from McMillan’s hugely popular February blog post titled Why You’re Not Married, which went viral and became the second most read story on Huffington Post with some 2.9 million views. (In it, McMillan lists the main reasons for single women not being able to get married as: 1) You’re a Bitch; 2) You’re Shallow; 3) You’re a Slut; 4) You’re a Liar; 5) You’re Selfish & 6) You’re Not Good Enough.) The post launched a bidding war among book publishers, eventually landing at Ballantine/Random House, which will release Why You’re Not Married…Yet: How To Stop Acting Like a Bitch And Start Getting Hitched on May 29 next year. A TV project based on the blog post and the book, and it too drew interest from multiple networks before landing at ABC. WME-repped McMillan, the daughter of a pimp and a prostitute, grew up in the foster-care system. She explored the effect of her upbringing on her adult relationships, including 3 failed marriages, in her first book, memoir I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway.
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Sounds really interesting and challenging. I hope they get writers who can realize the potential of this concept.
Congrats, Tracy! It’ll be one-of-a-kind, like you are!
Tracy is an awesome, down to earth, and rare talent. Love her on Twitter and can’t wait to watch!
Tracy is one of the coolest chicks in town. So excited for this!
Oh, great–more misogynistic concern troll crap promising to be sure-fire marital advice. Well, I guess McMillan figured if Steve Harvey and Lori Gottlieb could make millions telling women they aren’t married because they are all evil/selfish/shallow bitches, she could too.
so happy and glad for her. I remember reading this post and knew it was a hit!!
This is what passes for viable content? Shame
It’s hilarious to me that single women still think they’re missing out on something.
Not all of us. Some of us know that most of the married ladies got the “short end of the stick” so to speak, ha!
I think the “penalty” referred to in this article is the show itself.
I’m so glad that one woman telling all other women everything that is wrong with THEM (there’s nothing wrong with the guys out there) has become a huge cash cow for her. Just what women need. And young girls really need another popular culture outlet telling them they’re a bitch, slut, etc. and that something is wrong with them and they need to be fixed in order to get a man to commit. I now so many quality single gals out there and NONE of these labels apply to them. I can only hope that the tv show will portray what’s wrong on both sides, rather than bash women and tell them they’re nothing if they’re not “good enough” for a guy to want to marry them. For once I’d love to see someone telling guys to quit screwing around, having babies with multiple women and leaving them. They need to get it together and stop wanting to be “players”. But, I’m sure it’s something the ladies are doing wrong… p.s. – And we need to stop telling girls their goal in life should be to get married – that something is wrong with you if you’re not married. And for the record, I’m married, so please don’t assume I’m some bitter single or divorced gal with a grudge.
I wanted to add that the part of Tracy’s blog that I support is telling women that THEY think they are not good enough to deserve better. It’s true that women tend to settle for partners who treat them poorly and we undervalue ourselves. Can we please focus on that, folks in television land, rather than on being married as proof of one’s worth? Maybe if we took the time to find the right one to marry, instead of just wanting to GET married, the divorce rate would go down.
THE SAME SHIT OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND WHITNEY AND OVER….
Ha…..Subliminal (or not)
I’m pretty sure Sex and the City already covered this…
While the rest of the world is standing up against the entrenchment of corporations into every aspect of human life, the corporations in Hollywood are happily pumping out yet more bigoted propaganda disguised as witty entertainment. All women are single because they’re bitchy and mendacious sluts—how creative and original of you, Hollywood! That’s why you’re still the cutting edge!
But as Deering and WTH pointed out upthread, marriage advice hackery is big business these days. The only thing women need to find that man is unsolicited advice from corporate shills who couldn’t keep their own marriages together if their lives depended on it. At least that’s what Steve Harvey believes. I guess McMillan wanted to get a piece of action while she still could. And when the next
tired shtickfresh new idea hits Hollywood, I’m sure McMillan will be all over that too. Still the cutting edge, you are!She forgot one. #7. You’re crazy