EXCLUSIVE: Ben Stiller is set to star in and executive produce Protective Custody, a new comedy series from Mike Judge (Silicon Valley), Steve Hely (Common Side Effects) and Dave King (Parks and Recreation) that Apple is developing with an eye toward a series order.
Marking Stiller’s first lead role in a scripted, non-sketch comedy series, Protective Custody will follow a disgraced financier accused of massive fraud who is thrown into protective custody, where he must navigate prison politics, salvage his reputation, and confront the consequences of his actions while awaiting trial.
Protective Custody will be co-written, co-showrun and executive produced by Judge, Hely and King, with Judge attached to direct. Hailing from Apple Studios, Red Hour, Propagate Content, and 3 Arts Entertainment, the show will also be exec produced by Stiller and John Lesher for Red Hour; Ben Silverman (The Office, Stick), Howard Owens, and Rodney Ferrell for Propagate Content; Michael Rotenberg (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Silicon Valley) and Oly Obst (Nobody Wants This, Will Trent) for 3 Arts Entertainment; and Academy Award nominee Nanette Burstein.
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Protective Custody originated as a pitch to Apple from Ben Silverman and Propagate Content, who had established a valued collaboration on the acclaimed Owen Wilson comedy series Stick, as well as the doc The Last First: Winter K2. They conceived the show, we’re told, as Hogan’s Heroes meets The Office — the latter, a show Silverman helped bring to the U.S. and exec produced.
After all the success Stiller had seen behind the scenes at Apple — particularly with the Emmy-winning drama Severance — there was an excitement about finding the right opportunity for Stiller to anchor an Apple series on screen — and particularly, a comedy, given Apple’s appetite and ambition for expanding in the comedy space.
Stiller quickly sparked to the idea for the series, with Judge and his collaborators then entering the fold.
Judge had already been circling the idea of a comedy in the jail space, sources said, and given the quality of the material that presented as scripts were written, Protective Custody quickly went from a development title to a priority project for Apple, with an eye toward catching Stiller, Judge and company at a window all are available to work in.
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Protective Custody reunites Judge with Hely and King following their collaboration on Common Side Effects, the Peabody Award-winning adult animated series from Adult Swim.
For Stiller — an Emmy and DGA Award winner — Apple is now something of a creative home. He comes to Protective Custody after directing on and exec producing two seasons of their Emmy-winning drama Severance and also released his passion project doc Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, on parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, with Apple. Additionally, he produced and stars in The Dink, a pickleball comedy from director Josh Greenbaum that the studio releases on July 24. In The Off Weeks, which is currently in production, he plays a divorced writing professor navigating a dangerous romance in his “off weeks” from parenting, amid split custody.
Later this year, Stiller returns to the Focker-verse with Focker-in-Law, the latest film in his Meet the Parents comedy franchise, which Universal releases on November 25. He’s also recently inked a deal to star opposite Nicholas Galitzine and Bella Maclean in a new Netflix film called A Matter of
Time from Enola Holmes helmer Harry Bradbeer and is repped by WME, VIE, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
An Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee, Judge is best known for his series Silicon Valley, Beavis and Butt-Head, and King of the Hill, which currently is airing its 15th season via a Hulu revival. He is repped by WME, 3 Arts, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.
Hely and King are both repped by 3 Arts and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis. Hely is also with WME.
