Baz Luhrmann will make his TV debut with The Get Down, a 13-episode musical drama commissioned by Netflix which will trace the emergence of the hip-hop, punk and disco movements in 1970s New York City.
The Great Gatsby and Moulin Rouge! director, who created the project with Shawn Ryan (The Shield), will direct the first two episodes and the finale.
According to Netflix, the series will focus on "a rag-tag crew of South Bronx teenagers [who] are nothings and nobodies with no one to shelter them — except each other, armed only with verbal games, improvised dance steps, some magic markers and spray cans."
Catherine Martin will serve as costume and production designer as well as one of the executive producers. Sony Pictures Television, with which the director has had a development deal since 2012, will produce.
In a statement Luhrmann said he had been working on the project for more than 10 years, observing that Netflix’s commercial-free environment and reputation for giving creative freedom made it a natural home for The Get Down.
He added, “I’ve been obsessed with the idea of how a city in its lowest moment, forgotten and half destroyed, could give birth to such creativity and originality in music, art and culture."
A writers’ room has been set up and casting directors have started the search for the young leads, according to US media.
Netflix VP of original content Cindy Holland said, “Baz conjures worlds we may not recognize initially, but once there, realize they are infused with the same dreams of every person — to belong, to matter, to live life to its fullest.”
Netflix, which will launch in Australia and New Zealand in late March, will screen the show in 2016.
View the teaser trailer below.