Courtesy of Paradigm
'Laid Off' follows a guy who wakes up to realize he's contributed so little to the world that he doesn't exist to others.
ABC is looking to Ryan Jaffe for a high-concept comedy.
The network is teaming with Jaffe (This Is Happening) and Dan Lin (The Lego Movie, Forever) for comedy Laid Off.
The high-concept comedy centers on a guy who wakes up one day to find that he has been "laid off" from life. Literally. He’s alive, but he’s contributed so little to the world, that to everyone else he doesn’t exist. He learns from others like him that he is stuck in this Groundhog Day-like existence until he eventually redeems himself by contributing something worthy of re-entry to the normal everyday world, a day that may never come.
Jaffe will pen the script for the Warner Bros. Television comedy and exec produce alongside Lin.
The deal extends Lin's relationship with ABC, where the WBTV-based Lin had drama Forever set up last season.
High-concept comedies have been in high demand this broadcast season as networks look to replicate the success Fox found with Will Forte's Last Man on Earth.
Jaffe most recently wrote and directed indie feature This Is Happening, which opens in theaters Dec. 1.
Jaffe is repped by Paradigm, Mosaic and Ziffren Brittenham.
Lin is repped by WME.
TV Development
