Remember Ronald from Jury Duty? Now Amazon wants him to make TV shows
A guy who unknowingly starred on a TV show is now going to make his own TV shows
It seems like a minor miracle that Ronald Gladden, the subject/victim/star of Freevee’s Jury Duty never really overstayed his welcome. It’s probably because he never chose to be a subject/victim/star and simply had the experience thrust upon him, but—just as he did on the show—he seems to be handling it all well without milking the experience too much. He could be releasing a rap album or becoming a right-wing podcaster or any of the other things people do when they desperately need more attention, but no. He went to some parties, he did some interviews about Jury Duty and then went back to his regular life watching Rick And Morty and just being a good dude.
Until now! Sort of. According to Deadline, Gladden—who is just a regular guy who happened to be cast in a reality show—has signed a two-year overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios to “produce, develop, and star in a variety of content.” Again: This guy is not a writer, not a producer, and not an actor, he just had a wacky experience in a fake criminal trial that he didn’t know was fake. We’re not saying he doesn’t deserve this, but we are saying that there’s not necessarily any reason to think he’d be good at this.
Anyway, Gladden had this to say in a statement:
Words cannot express how excited I am to officially be a part of the Amazon family. Jury Duty was a remarkable experience for me and one that introduced me to so many creative and inspiring people. I’m now looking forward to utilizing those new relationships to develop projects for Amazon MGM Studios.
Has Gladden gone Hollywood? He’s a regular person, and that’s not really how a regular person talks. Maybe that’s worse than him overstaying his welcome? What if he becomes too much of a big-shot for his regular friends, like the guy who built a chair into his pants, Ike Barinholtz’s dad (he played the judge), and James Marsden? He’ll be too busy producing movies to watch Sex Drive, his favorite movie!