People dramatically proclaim all the time that they don’t think they could survive without their smartphones, but a new series from the forthcoming streaming service Quibi from Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman approaches smartphone survival in a much more literal way. The scripted series, which will premiere on Quibi at launch in April 2020, stars Tye Sheridan from “Ready Player One,” and counts Steven Soderbergh as an executive producer.
The series, called “Wireless,” was created by Jack Seidman and Zach Wechter, who are the creators of the short film “Pocket,” which is shot entirely as though it was taking place on a person’s phone, almost like a screencast of that device. “Wireless” will feature similar cinematography, which is a good fit for Quibi’s short-form, made for a mobile approach to original streaming content. Wechter and Seidman have a head-start in this regard, in fact, as their film collective Pickpocket is specifically aimed at making this kind of feature.
“Wireless” will tell the story of Sheridan’s lead character, who is described as “a self-obsessed college student whose only hope for survival is the tool he has spent his whole life learning to use: his smartphone.” Said character will apparently be trapped inside of his freshly crashed car during the action, and using the smartphone (which is low on battery) to try to survive his predicament.
Quibi has already made a whole host of announcements, with new ones coming all the time, but it’s going to have a lot to prove once it actually debuts into what will be by April a very crowded streaming content market. Apple TV+ and Disney+, two new entrants from heavyweights that aren’t building a name from scratch with consumers, just debuted, and there are more coming early next year from NBC, HBO/AT&T and more.
