Showtime to adapt Patti Smith memoir

US cable channel Showtime is adapting the memoir of punk poet and musician Patti Smith into a drama miniseries.

Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, will be adapted, co-written and produced for TV by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter John Logan (Skyfall, Hugo), whose Desert Wolf Productions imprint will be the production company.

Smith shot to fame in 1970s as a writer and visual artist focused on merging poetry and rock music, and has released twelve albums to date. Her memoir has become a hot property in Hollywood, and Showtime has now secured the adaptation rights.

“A limited series on Showtime will allow us to explore the characters more deeply, enabling us to develop stories beyond the book and allow a measure of unorthodox presentation,” said Smith. “The medium of a television limited series offers narrative freedom and a chance to expand upon the themes of the book.”

Meanwhile, Showtime, which is part of CBS. Corp, has greenlit pilots of a Chicago-set coming-of-age drama from Lena Waithe, rapper Common, Aaron Kaplan and Clark Johnson; and a dark period comedy starring Jim Carrey.

The former comes from writer Waithe (Dear White People), and will follow a young African-American male as he struggles just to get by. Waithe executive produces along with Common, Kapital Entertainment founder Kaplan and Johnson (Homeland), who will also direct. Fox 21 TV Studios will produce, and the pilot will shot later this year.

The comedy, I’m Dying Up Here, is set in 1970s LA. It comes from stand-up comic and TV writer Dave Flebotte and Carrey, who both write and executive produce. Michael Aguilar (The Departed) and Assembly Entertainment founder and former Cineflix Media scripted chief Christina Wayne (Copper)

The show will be set in the stand-up comedy clubs of 1970s Hollywood, where Carrey and other learnt their trade.

Endemol Shine Studios and Assembly will coproduce through their first-look agreement, with Jonathan Levine set to direct the pilot this autumn. The show is based on a non-fiction book of the same name from William Knoedelseder.

Lisa Kudrow’s comedy Web Therapy, meanwhile, has been cancelled after for seasons on Showtime.