Web series East WillyB has found a home with ABC Studios. The half-hour comedy, which originally premiered on YouTube in 2011, has been bought and officially been put into development, and the potential series will be written by East WillyB‘s creators Julia Ahumada Grob and Yamin Segal.
East WillyB follows titular character Willy Reyes, Jr., owner of a Bushwick neighborhood dive bar, and his various colorful patrons. Like its YouTube-hosted version 1.0, it will tackle the Latinx experience in America — namely the gentrification of neighborhoods that have historically been populated by people of color.
“When we created this show as a web series we did so by using our grit, emptying our piggy banks, and paying our cast and crew with our tia’s arroz con pollo,” Grob and Segal told Deadline. “To have the opportunity to bring an authentic Brooklyn story to television is a dream come true for two New York kids raised on city stoops.”
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The pair successfully produced a six-episode pilot season in 2011, each episode around three minutes in length. Collectively, the season garnered 25,000 views. In 2012, they ran a fully-funded Kickstarter (supported by Latinx Hollywood talent the likes of Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and Arrow‘s Rick Gonzalez, who’s from Bushwick) that raised $51,000 to bring six longer episodes to life. The first longer episode netted 26,000 views by itself, and collectively the six garnered more than 88,000. All those episodes can still be seen on the show’s dedicated YouTube channel.
Grob and Segal will executive produce; Korin Williams and Monique Nash’s Kronicle Media will produce.
“Julia and Yamin have pushed the boundaries of story telling with their thought-provoking web series that has an authenticity that resonates across cultures,” Williams and Nash said. “We are excited to have the opportunity to showcase their creative vision to new audiences through this very unique and culturally fluid show.”
Since first bringing East WillyB to life in 2011, Grob and Segal have both worked on other successful projects. Grob was a staff writer on off-kilter medieval musical series Galavant and comedy Stuck in the Middle, and Segal produced a number of TV series, including Becoming a Luchador, Empty Spaces, Taking on America, and Left Unattended.
