EXCLUSIVE: HBO Max is not moving forward with half-hour family comedy pilot Camp Friends (working title).
I hear production on the pilot, which was greenlated late last year, was paused over positive Covid tests and never resumed. Restarting production after a shutdown is very costly, especially for a modestly budgeted half-hour pilot for Camp Friends. Instead, I hear the producers supplemented the completed footage with animation and storyboards. The pilot was delivered to HBO Max executives who ultimately decided not to pick it up to series.
Camp Friends was written by Lauren Herstik and produced by Adam Goodman for Invisible Narratives and Jax Media.
The comedy revolves around four lifelong “camp friends” during their highly anticipated counselor-in-training summer. When a mysterious new girl arrives late from another camp, the girls’ plan to have The Best Summer Ever gets thrown into disarray. Camp Friends live 10 months for two. Now that things are different, the “Core Four” swear an oath to do whatever it takes for their friendship to survive.