Martin Freeman, Adam Brody To Star In Drama Series On Sony’s Crackle

Crackle has an ambitious original series in the works. The digital platform owned by Sony Pictures Television will distribute Start Up, a drama starring Martin Freeman and Adam Brody.

In Start Up, Freeman will play an FBI agent whose hunt for a financial criminal leads him to Brody’s Nick Talman, who is investing dirty money in a tech startup. The show’s first season will include ten episodes, with each one running for one hour.

“Start Up carries out our promise to continue our commitment to quality drama,” said Eric Berger, GM of Crackle, in a press release. “We are working with a top-notch team to produce a project that explores the motivations and complexities of creating a new venture, while walking a fine line between crime and legitimacy.”

Crackle, which chose to present at last year’s TV upfronts

rather than the digital Newfronts, fancies itself a TV network, and in order to prove that claim to its viewing audience, it needs to assemble a wide library of compelling content. Its most recent original program, The Art of More, features big names like Dennis Quaid and Kate Bosworth, but it hasn’t made much of an impact yet. Start Up will give Crackle another chance to find its House of Cards, and the upcoming drama seems like it has potential; after all, Freeman, whose credits include Sherlock and the first season of Fargo, tends to turn up in good TV shows.

Start Up is produced by Critical Content, a new studio spun off of Relativity Media’s TV business. No release date for the series has yet been announced, though production on it is currently underway.