If there is a day to finally put to bed the idea that there is a hard line between television and cinema then that day is probably today.
Variety is reporting that Joel and Ethan Coen have saddled up with Annapurna Television to write and direct The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, an anthology event series set in the Old West. This is their first foray making a TV series.
But what's this? It may not just be for television?
Producing with Megan Ellison and Sue Naegle, the Coens intend to innovate formats and screenings in some way that would include a theatrical element to their story. According to Variety's sources the story they have in mind is too large for a single feature film and thus the event series route, but it is as yet unclear how theatrical distribution will play a part. As such the project is being shot as a series.
As to the series' story itself, the Coens have their lips sealed beyond the basic idea that Buster Scruggs will interweave six stories... alas, probably not of six actual people all really named Buster Scruggs.