Mubi is continuing to expand its business after picking up such projects as last year’s The Substance. According to Deadline, the company has now picked up the rights to the independently produced TV drama series Hal & Harper. The show comes from actor/filmmaker Cooper Raiff, whose resume includes Cha Cha Real Smooth. The business model for indie television is still testing the waters, but Mubi’s acquisition is a big win for the experimental process. The studio is set to stream the show in the U.S. and France, and it has earned good buzz after premiering at Sundance this year.
The series stars Raiff along with Lili Reinhart and Mark Ruffalo. Per Deadline, Hal & Harper “centers on two codependent siblings Hal (Raiff) and Harper (Reinhart), who are facing big life changes. The pair’s intimacy is built on a lifetime of inside jokes and shared pains, portrayed via flashbacks where Raiff and Reinhart play the elementary school-aged versions of themselves. As their father, Ruffalo’s charm belies a chasm of guilt, which is at the root of all that Hal & Harper is trying to uncover.”
Raiff created the series and directs with a supporting cast that includes Betty Gilpin (known for GLOW), Havana Rose Liu (who also stars in Bottoms), Addison Timlin (whose resume includes Start Up), and Alyah Chanelle Scott (who has also starred in The Sex Lives of College Girls). Thomas Hartmann is on board the show as a producer, with Raiff, Clementine Quittner, Reinhart, Daniel Lewis, and Addison Timli on as executive producers on the project. Raiff made a statement about his show getting purchased by Mubi, “MUBI is the perfect home for our very specific family show. They’re a singular platform that understands the art they’re putting out. I am in awe of what they’ve done recently, and am excited to be a part of the family.”
Ruffalo can also soon be seen in another series on HBO — Task. In this crime drama, Ruffalo plays an FBI agent who is saddled with an inexperienced crew hoping to end a string of violent robberies in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The show comes from the creator of Mare of Easttown, Brad Ingelsby.
