Lena Dunham Girls pitch to HBO which she fully admits was terrible
'They are the Facebook generation and ironically enough they are isolated by all the connectivity'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.For five seasons, HBO’s drama Girls has enthralled the world, showing realistic characters traversing the plains of modern technology.
To celebrate the sixth and last season, The Hollywood Reporter interviewed the main cast members while looking back over the series’ history.
One of the most interesting snippets of new information was creator Lena Dunham’s original pitch, something she described as a “tone poem about millennial life” and “the worst pitch you’ve ever read.”
Written when she was 23-years-old, the pitch spells out exactly what makes her generation tick, including Facebook posts and blogging pictures of food.
“Sex and the City depicted women who had mastered their careers and were now being driven crazy by the tick of their biological clocks,” the manifesto starts.
“Gossip Girl is about losing your virginity and gaining popularity, in a world where no one is old enough to worry about making a living.
But between adolescence and adulthood is an uncomfortable middle-ground, when women are ejected from college and into a world with neither glamour nor structure. The resulting period of flux is heartbreaking and hilarious and way too human. It’s humbling and it’s sexy and it’s ripe for laughs.”
What follows is nothing about what would actually happen in the show itself - no plot - but more reflection on women in their mid-twenties, struggling after college. The last three paragraphs are perhaps the most insightful.
Final three pars of Dunham's Girls pitch
They are the Facebook generation and ironically enough they are isolated by all the connectivity available to them (and prone to Facebook stalking and drunk-IMing and booty calls via Twitter and deciphering text messages like they’re ancient hieroglyphs and blogging pictures of all the food they eat).
They are navigating the transition out of college-level codependence on their girlfriends, but will still call to announce that they got their period or saw a man masturbating on the subway or saw a man who looks sort of like a kid they went to camp with (could it be him? And if so, is he on Facebook?)
They’re beautiful and maddening. They’re self-aware and self obsessed. They’re your girlfriends and daughters and sisters and employees. They’re my friends and I’ve never seen them on TV.
Despite the self-aggrandising essay, HBO trusted in Dunham’s vision thanks to her festival-friendly independent film Tiny Furniture. And now we have six seasons of Girls. Read the full pitch on THR.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments