BALLERS Julie Plec grew up playing tennis and remains a big fan; Rally, her YA drama about the sport has court legend Andre Agassi as an EP. (The Ankler illustration; image credits below)
I cover TV from L.A. I interviewed ATX TV’s founders about buying their festival back from Penske, covered Netflix’s expiring 10-year holds on its scripted originals and interviewed Sony TV chief Katherine Pope and Wiip CEO Paul Lee. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com
Julie Plec is hitting the court with Andre Agassi.
That’s right, one of TV’s top voices and one of tennis’ most beloved stars are teaming up on a new project — and I have the exclusive scoop on the plans and how they came together, which is why you’re getting a second ping from me in your email inbox this week.
We Were Liars creator Plec, legendary ace Agassi and fellow former tennis pro Justin Gimelstob are collaborating on Rally, a scripted drama set in the world of an elite tennis academy. Widely considered one of the most charismatic players in the sport, Agassi, now 55, opened up about his difficult childhood at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida in his acclaimed 2009 memoir Open: An Autobiography. The project has been set up in development at Amazon’s Prime Video, which says in a logline shared with me that the show revolves around “ambitious young players who discover the loneliest sport in the world demands sacrificing the very connections that might be the only thing that makes winning feel worth it.”
COURT STORY Plec posted on Instagram from the 2025 U.S. Open. (Courtesy of subject)
Plec, who recently made the trek to see the U.S. Open in New York, will write the script and serve as showrunner on Rally. The show hails from Universal Television, where Plec’s My So-Called Company is under an exclusive overall deal. My So-Called Company president Emily Cummins, a former vp drama development executive at Disney’s ABC Studios, will executive produce.
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Agassi, the former No. 1 ranked tennis star with 60 career ATP Tour singles titles, is also attached as an executive producer on Rally alongside Gimelstob, a former national junior champion who on the adult tour ranked as high as 63rd in the world in singles and 18th in doubles. Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady, one of Plec’s managers, will also executive produce.
It was Casady, E360’s founder, who first came up with the idea for Rally after spending time with his two sons at multiple tennis/sports academies. He partnered with Plec’s shingle, with the Vampire Diaries creator opting to pen the script herself. Casady also executive produces Apple TV+’s recently renewed golf comedy Stick, starring Owen Wilson.
For Amazon, under another leadership shakeup as head of TV Vernon Sanders’ exits, Rally aligns with the platform’s robust appetite for YA and its investment in a range of sports rights and doc and scripted sports series. Following on Prime Video’s three-season run and newly-announced movie finale for YA hit The Summer I Turned Pretty, Plec’s We Were Liars was renewed for a second season this week. While Plec hasn’t done a sports-centered series before, her deep YA experience plus a love of tennis make this development project a clear fit.
Unlike any tennis match ever, it’s a win-win.
Paid subscribers can read on for what Plec earlier revealed to me about this project and how Rally expands her horizons as a creator, plus my take on why Amazon is very smart to stay in the Plec business and align her creative voice with its big plays in sports.
Amazon’s noisiest and most scrutinized sports programming is its NFL deal. The retail giant and streamer landed rights to Thursday Night Football in 2021, with the 10-year deal running through 2033 at a price tag of a whopping $10 billion.
But it’s active in all kinds of sports off the gridiron.