Detective Agent Derek Hulu pitch bought from Nick Kreiss and Big Grey Mass
Hulu has bought the animated comedy pitch Detective Agent Derek from Nick Kreiss and the Big Grey Mass trio, Deadline reports.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
The Detective Agent Derek Hulu deal puts a deeply oddball animated cop comedy pitch inside the streamer’s pipeline, with Nick Kreiss and the animation collective Big Grey Mass behind it, Deadline reports.
According to Deadline, Hulu has bought the TV comedy pitch from Kreiss and Big Grey Mass members Julian Bonosconi, Griffin Poole and Spencer Rich. Deadline cited sources for the deal, while representatives for Hulu declined to comment.
Kreiss, Bonosconi and Poole are the credited creators, according to Deadline. They are also set to executive produce with Douglas Banker and Conor Welch.
What is Detective Agent Derek about?
Detective Agent Derek is described as an animated comedy that treats its episodes like a glossy crime drama, while sending its hero through the stranger corners of online culture. Deadline reports that the stories involve cases such as killings, conspiracies and crime groups.
The joke sits in the lead character: Derek is described in Deadline’s report as a nunchuck-carrying, anime-fixated neckbeard who is wildly unsuited to being taken seriously. Inside the show’s world, however, he is treated like the person everyone should rally behind.
The pitch gives Hulu another adult-animation-flavored project with a sharp comic hook. The report does not say whether Hulu has ordered a pilot, a full season or set any timetable for production.
Who are Big Grey Mass?
Big Grey Mass is the name used by Bonosconi, Poole and Rich, a trio Deadline identifies as animators, writers and directors. The group describes its work as “animation soup for the soul,” according to the report.
The three are longtime friends from Orem, Utah. Deadline describes their hometown as highly religious and lacking an obvious route into animation or the film and television business.
Deadline reports that the trio did not attend film school and built their way in without a safety net. In the report, they describe that path as “years of working soul-sucking jobs, figuring it out, and making art anyway.”
Big Grey Mass is represented by Mosaic, according to Deadline.
What has Nick Kreiss worked on?
Kreiss has a mix of film and television credits in comedy. Deadline notes his feature work includes Jackass Forever and Little Bitches, the comedy starring Jennette McCurdy, Kiersey Clemons and Virginia Gardner.
On the TV side, Deadline lists Kreiss’ credits as including Punk’d, The Eric Andre Show, The Prank Panel and Hulu’s Bad Friends.
Kreiss is represented by Underground and Morris Yorn, according to Deadline.
For now, the deal keeps Detective Agent Derek at the pitch stage in public reporting. What is clear is the core combination Hulu has bought: animated crime-drama packaging, internet-subculture absurdity and a hero designed to be taken far more seriously by his fictional world than by the audience.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.