Blueprint tooling up for HBO’s Hung

US producer Blueprint Entertainment is about to cast the lead for the upcoming HBO comedy Hung. It will then start shooting the 45-minute pilot for the eagerly awaited show late next month.

Blueprint, which was last week acquired by Entertainment One, took the project to mainstream and cable networks by way of Michael Rosenberg, who heads up Blueprint’s TV series department.

HBO showed the most interest, explains Blueprint boss John Morayniss. "Sue Neagle was just starting at HBO [as president of entertainment] at the time and has a good relationship with the writers and Michael and was really gung ho to make it work for HBO," he says.

HBO put up a penalty payment in case the script was developed and they didn’t pick up the pilot – but they did, and Sideways director Alexander Payne was brought on board to direct, marking his first foray into TV.

Blueprint is now casting the male lead and the pilot, which will be shot in Michigan where it is set, will be delivered later this year. HBO will ultimately handle international sales if the show gets picked up for a full half-hour series.

The show itself is written by The Riches scribes Dmitry Lipkin and his wife Colette Burson, and follows a forty-something male whose wife has left him and is coasting until he realises he has a "super power" in his enormous penis.

The character will use his super power in various ways, but there will be no prosthetics involved, exec producer Michael Rosenberg explains. "It’s about a guy who is sitting around and thinking what he has going for him," he says. "It’s almost like he has this big dick and forgot about it – but now it’s coming out again. But this is not Boogie Nights, we don’t plan on showing it."