Stars Named for ‘Compliance’ TV Comedy!
Breaking news on the most important compliance story of 2018! We have the names of the lead actors for that forthcoming TV comedy pilot about a compliance officer working at a private equity firm.
According to an item on Deadline.com, the stars will be Courtney Vance as manager of the private equity fund, and Mary-Louise Parker as the firm’s government-appointed compliance officer.
FX has commissioned the pilot, which so far seems be named Compliance. We know it is intended to be a single-camera half-hour comedy, presumably in the same dry-humor motif as Baskets, Atlanta, or Better Things, three other comedies running on FX these days. (Which are all hilarious, we should note.)
We don’t know when this pilot might air on FX, if ever. Apparently the network so far has only greenlighted the pilot, not a full season.
Vance, right; and Parker, left. Photo courtesy Shutterstock.
Still, compliance professionals can be hopeful here, because the people behind the show are no joke. Vance and Parker are both Emmy Award-winning TV actors. You last saw Vance playing Johnny Cochran in The People vs. OJ Simpson, and Parker on Weeds. They’ve been in a host of other shows over the years, from Law & Order to West Wing and many more.
The executive producer is Scott Rudin, whose credits include producing the films Grand Budapest Hotel (pretty good), Captain Phillips, (haven’t seen it), and True Grit (awesome). And in television Rudin has worked on Silicon Valley, so he has experience in comedies about the inanity of modern workplace life. That will be mighty useful in a show about compliance.
The writer for the pilot is Sarah Burgess, an up-and-coming playwright with a knack for biting comedy. Her biggest claim to fame so far is the play “Dry Powder,” about a private equity firm that acquires a luggage company and must then decide whether to invest in the company or cut it to shreds for a quick profit. The play ran Off Broadway last year starring Hank Azaria, Claire Danes, and John Krasinski.
Of course, the mind reels at possible plotlines. Parker’s compliance officer trying to guide Vance’s firm as it invests in the marijuana industry? Know-Your-Customer checks that turn up Parker’s old flame as a money-laundering risk? Parker giving a speech at a Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics conference in Vegas while Vance gets picked up for intoxication at the casino? The list is endless. Email any ideas you have to [email protected] and maybe we’ll forward them to Burgess’ agent or something.
Meanwhile, let’s hope for the best. If Compliance does hit the air, of course Radical Compliance will be hosting live-chat discussions and episode recaps every week.