Hulu Gives Script Commitment to Tara Lipinski Skating Drama

Hulu has made a scripted commitment to a potential figure skating drama series from Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski. The new series will focus on a group of women and men in their teens and twenties who sacrifice their normal lives for a shot at the Olympics and examines just what it costs to become a champion. Lipinski will executive produce with Michael Shamberg (“Into the Badlands”), Jonathan Igla (“Masters of Sex”) and Alexandra Zimbler, head of TV development at Shamberg’s company, MAS Production.

“To the average observer, figure skating appears to be an extremely elegant and undeniably beautiful sport — and for good reason,” said Lipinski in a statement. “But when you begin to peel back the layers of this world, a more complex, and even shocking, picture emerges. I’ve dedicated the majority of my life to skating and I can’t begin to describe how much I love my sport. I want to paint an authentic picture of the highs and the lows and the price that some people pay to be part of this world. For over a decade now I’ve been trying to find the appropriate medium, and the right people, to capture the behind-the-scenes life of figure skaters. To me, skating has been portrayed as an inspiring Olympic sport or an over-the-top parody so this will be a version viewers may not have seen before.”

Lipinski has been a commentator for NBC Sports since 2013 and will serve as cultural correspondent for the upcoming 2016 Rio Games.