Shonda Rhimes has just announced her first new show since making the big move to Netflix, with Variety reporting that the Shondaland mastermind is adapting a version of New York Magazine’s recent piece “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” for the screen.
Admittedly, the New York piece is textbook Shonda-bait: Delvey (real name Anna Sorokin) ran a complicated, glitzy campaign of deception on the rich and idle of New York over the last few years, using elaborate gifts, name-dropping, and a studied sense of privilege to disguise the fact that she was living off of bad checks, fake wire transfers, and the kindness of “friends” who knew she was good for it, because otherwise, how could she seem so rich? Really, she feels like a perfect Rhimes protagonist already, quick-witted, prone to self-serving deception, and complete with the steadily ticking clock of her own lies inevitably catching up with her. (The real Delvey is at Riker’s Island right now, where she’s apparently good friends with the local murderers.)
Meanwhile, there’s a lot riding on this one; it’s Rhimes’ first series since Netflix paid for a massive, multi-year deal to steal her away from ABC. She’s currently attached to write the show.