Starz Announces Two New Series, P-VALLEY and HIGHTOWN

Starz, a Lionsgate company (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B), announced today the series pickups of "P-Valley" (working title), based on her play Pussy Valley, and "Hightown," formerly called "P-Town," from Rebecca Cutter ("Gotham"), Gary Lennon (STARZ Original series "Power") and Jerry Bruckheimer TV.

"P-Valley" project takes an unapologetic look at the lives of strip club dancers working down in the Dirty Delta, while "Hightown" touches on the current opioid epidemic sweeping the U.S.

Originally picked up for development in 2016, "P-Valley" is executive produced by Chernin Entertainment, stars Brandee Evans ("The Bobby Brown Story") as Mercedes and Nicco Annan ("This is Us") as Uncle Clifford. Shannon Thornton ("Power") and J. Alphonse Nicholson ("Chicago P.D.") join as series regulars.

Creator and showrunner Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) will executive produce with Chernin Entertainment. Khaliah Neal (3 1/2 Minutes 10 Bullets, The Last Black Man In San Francisco) will serve as consulting producer and Patrik-Ian Polk ("Being Mary Jane," "Noah's Arc") will act as co-executive producer. Award-winning music video director Karena Evans (Drake: Nice for What, SZA: Garden) will direct the premiere episode.

Down deep in the Mississippi Delta lies an oasis of grit and glitter in a rough patch of human existence where beauty can be hard to find. This southern-fried, hour-long drama tells the kaleidoscopic story of a little-strip-club-that-could and the big characters who come through its doors - the hopeful, the lost, the broken, the ballers, the beautiful, and the damned. Trap music meets film noir in this lyrical and atmospheric series that dares to ask what happens when small-town folk dream BEYOND the boundaries of the Piggly Wiggly and the pawnshop.

The scripted drama "Hightown" is written and executive produced by Rebecca Cutter. Gary Lennon will executive produce with Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, Top Gun: Maverick, "The Amazing Race"), Jonathan Littman ("Lucifer," "The Amazing Race," CSI Franchise) and KristieAnne Reed ("CSI: Cyber," "Lucifer," "L.A.'s Finest") from JBTV. Monica Raymund ("Chicago Fire," "The Good Wife") stars. Production begins in March.

"Hightown" is a crime drama set amid the drug trade on Cape Cod, touched off when a body washes ashore and discovered by an irreverent National Marine Fisheries Service officer who is determined to help solve the murder even if the state cops want her nowhere near the case.

Starz retains all domestic multiplatform pay TV and SVOD rights to both series. Lionsgate retains all international and domestic distribution and home entertainment rights.

Senior Vice Presidents of Original Programming Marta Fernandez and Susan Lewis are the Starz executives in charge of "P-Valley." Senior Vice Presidents of Original Programming Ken Segna and Susan Lewis as well as Director of Original Programming Kathleen Clifford are the Starz executives overseeing "Hightown."

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