Source: Paul Zimmerman / Getty
Scamming has become a hot topic this month thanks to a few viral stories that flooded the Internet. One story in particular caught the eye of writer and television producer, Shonda Rhimes. Netflix released the trailer for Shonda Rhimes’ newest series, Inventing Anna and announced its premiere date next year.
The official Inventing Anna series’ description details: A journalist investigates the case of Anna Delvey, the Instagram-legendary heiress who stole the hearts and money of New York elites. The show stars Anna Chlumsky, Laverne Cox, Katie Lowes, Alexis Floyd and Julia Garner as Anna Delvey.
Rhimes shared the show’s origins with Variety’s Show Woman of the Year cover story earlier this month. Rhimes recalls reading Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine story, “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” in May 2018. The viral story detailed the scamming enterprises of a charming young Russian woman, who had swindled societally connected New Yorkers. Rhimes was immediately intrigued.
Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland entered a bidding war for Pressler’s story, while her longtime producing partner Betsy Beers was on vacation in Mexico.
“The joke at our company is every time I take a couple of days off, an amazing piece of IP pops up,” Beers shares with Variety. Rhimes knew that all the elements for a great Shonda Rhimes show were within the Anna Delvey story, she says: “The characters, the setting, the world — the world of journalism.”
The Pressler article was Rhimes’ first major acquisition for her Netflix talent deal, which had begun in August 2017. Inventing Anna began production in fall 2019 in New York City, and then wrapped a full year later due to the pandemic. This is Rhimes first series since creating the hit drama series Scandal in 2012.
Watch the trailer for the riveting story of scammer Anna Delvey in Netflix and Shondaland’s upcoming series Inventing Anna premiering Feb. 11, 2022.
