HBO has won one of the first major heat checks of the fall TV marketplace, handing a straight-to-series order to The Spread, a Miami-set drama starring and executive produced by Javier Bardem.
The project comes from Ozark co-creator Bill Dubuque, Sean Sansiveri and Fifth Season, with Matthew Vaughn set to direct. HBO will co-produce the series with Fifth Season.
The package drew a highly competitive buying process after Fifth Season took it out in August, a period usually considered quiet because many executives are away before the expected post-Labor Day wave of television pitches. Instead, the timing helped turn The Spread into a high-profile target, generating meetings and major offers before HBO secured the series order.
A major bidding battle
According to sources cited in the supplied material, Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount+ and Apple TV all made strong bids, with offers said to include a mix of writers rooms and straight-to-series commitments. The bidding escalated as the process continued, and a potential two-season pickup was also discussed.
Paramount+ and Prime Video were described as especially aggressive in the pursuit. Both platforms are overseen by former Netflix executives who had worked with Dubuque on Ozark: Cindy Holland at Paramount+ and Peter Friedlander at Prime Video. Each made straight-to-series offers, which HBO ultimately matched — a notable move for the premium network, which rarely gives a series greenlight from a pitch.
Inside The Spread
Written by Dubuque and Sansiveri, The Spread is set in Miami, where paradise is being transformed into a financial power center described as “Wall Street South.” The drama’s world brings together industry titans, elite hedge funds, extraordinary wealth, ruthless competition, sex, nightlife and large-scale excess.
Bardem will play a visionary billionaire who gathers the brilliant, the hungry and the dangerous around him, unleashing their ambitions on the markets that drive America. His goal goes beyond personal fortune: he wants to shift the center of economic gravity to Miami and determine how long the party can continue.
Francesca Orsi, EVP of HBO Programming and head of HBO Drama Series and Films, framed the pickup as a natural fit for the network’s long-standing interest in the setting.
“Having long wanted to set a scripted series in Florida, HBO couldn’t be more excited to explore the gilded chaos of Miami and bring it to life with this kaleidoscope of extraordinary, visionary talent who is as fearless as the story itself,” Orsi said.
The executive producing team includes Bardem, Dubuque, Sansiveri and Vaughn, along with Brad Weston for Makeready and Ian Stratford and Michael Bloom for Topic Studios.
Fifth Season’s first big sale under new TV leadership
The Spread also marks the first major sale for Fifth Season since the company tapped Peter Traugott as president of television earlier this year. Noah Greenshner, EVP and head of TV creative and Traugott’s No. 2, oversaw the project’s development.
“The Spread is a gripping story of power and ambition, set against the vivid, glamorous backdrop of Miami,” Greenshner said. “We’ve brought together an exceptional creative team to capture the energy of this world and city, and we’re thrilled to be working alongside them and our partners at HBO, Makeready, and Topic to bring it to life.”
Bardem is a four-time Oscar nominee and won for No Country For Old Men. He recently starred in and executive produced the Apple TV limited series Cape Fear and Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. He is also set to reprise his role as Stilgar in Dune: Part Three. Bardem is represented by WME and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.
Dubuque is best known as co-creator and executive producer of Netflix’s Ozark, which starred Jason Bateman and Laura Linney, ran for four seasons and won four Emmys. He recently executive produced Fifth Season’s Netflix limited series His & Hers, which made the streamer’s list of Top 10 most popular English series, and Peacock’s drama series M.I.A. He is also the writer of The Accountant movie franchise and is represented by WME.
Sansiveri has been developing television projects while serving as CEO of One Team Partners. He previously spent more than a decade at the NFL Players Association, where he served as general counsel and head of business affairs. He is represented by CAA and Lit Entertainment Group.
Vaughn, set to direct The Spread, is known for Kingsman, Kick-Ass and the X-Men franchises. He is represented by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.