FX strikes a Pose

Pose is set in New York City during the 1980s

US cablenet FX has ordered a dance musical series from Glee producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk.

Pose, made by Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions, will feature the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles and the largest recurring Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual and Queer (LGBTQ) cast ever for a scripted TV series.

The show was written by co-creators and executive producers Murphy, Falchuk and Steven Canals, with Murphy directing the first two episodes. Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson will also produce.

FX has ordered eight episodes for the show’s first season, which is scheduled to begin production in February in New York and premiere on the channel in the summer.

Janet Mock and Our Lady J (Transparent) will also serve as producers while Jacobson and Simpson are attached as executive producers alongside Alexis Martin Woodall, Sherry Marsh and Erica Kaye.

Pose is set in the 1980s and looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York.

Evan Peters (American Horror Story, the X-Men franchise) and Kate Mara (American Horror Story, House of Cards) play a New Jersey couple who get sucked into the glamour and intrigue of the city. James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek) also appears as Peters’ financial kingpin boss.

Falchuk and Murphy, who previously produced FX anthology series American Horror Story, wrote pilot Pretty/Handsome about a transsexual gynaecologist, which FX bought in 2008 but did not pick up to series.

The series will bring on emerging transgender directors to be mentored through Murphy’s Directing Mentorship Programme and Half initiative for social equality.