Lifetime has been known as the ‘network for women’ since the early 1990s, but in an effort to entice a variety of new viewers, they’ve started taking the necessary steps to deviate from their usual soap opera fare. First there was the premiere of last year’s supernatural drama Witches of East End, and currently in the works are dystopian conspiracy thriller The Lottery and Civil War period drama Deliverance Creek. But up next for the leading female network will be the reality TV-inspired dark comedy, Un-Real. 

Un-Real continues the network’s trend of focusing on strong women characters and is based on Sarah Gertrude Shapiro’s award-winning independent short film, Sequin Raze, which starred Ashley Williams, Anna Camp and Frances Conroy. The short film premiered at SXSW 2013 and received the Honorable Mention Short Film Jury Award, before going on to spark the interest of numerous networks intent on bringing its premise to TV.

Lifetime has since given a series order to Un-Real, making it the first scripted project fully financed and controlled by their newly created in-house production team, A+E Studios. The pilot was written by Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mad Men) and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro and directed by Roger Kumble (Cruel Intentions) this past November. And now that the series has been picked up for 10 episodes, Noxon will stay on to executive produce with Shapiro as producer. No word yet on who wlll be the showrunner.

Examining society’s current obsession with reality TV, as a satire much like films The Hunger Games and Cabin in the Woods, Un-Real goes behind the scenes of a hit competition dating series and follows Shiri Appleby (Girls, Roswell) as Rachel, a young staffer whose lone job is to manipulate all the contestants so she can get the dramatic and outrageous footage her executive producer – played by Megyn Price (Rules of Engagement) – demands.

The cast is rounded out by Ashley Scott (Jericho, Birds of Prey), Nathalie Kelley (The Fast and the Furious), Johanna Braddy (Shameless), Breeda Wool (Betas), and guest star Arielle Kebbel (The Vampire Diaries) as the contestants who are trying to win the heart of Freddie Stroma (Pitch Perfect), the show’s bachelor.

The series will draw extensively upon Shapiro’s experiences working in reality TV, which should give an air of authenticity to everything that goes down. Meanwhile, Marti Noxon, who is no stranger to melodrama after shepherding the last two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, should do quite well handling the more emotional side of things. Together, they’ll attempt to tackle what Shapiro discussed with Papermag last year as a growing TV trend, ‘our thirst to see people in pain and being broken down on camera.’

Most intriguing about the series, however, may be seeing Shiri Appleby playing such a sadistic character, a far cry from her portrayal of the girl next door on Roswell or even her guest-starring role in last season’s Girls, despite that much talked about sex scene.

There’s a lot coming up on Lifetime to be excited about for both females and males, young and old, as the network continues to grow and attract up and coming talent, both behind the camera and in front. We’ll just have to wait and see how this one does come summer.