George Clooney, Kirsten Dunst team up for YouTube dark comedy, On Becoming a God in Central Florida

YouTube Premium has commissioned a dark comedy co-produced by George Clooney and Kirsten Dunst, who will also star in the series. The Google-owned YouTube YouTube series titled On Becoming a God in Central Florida will center on the US cult of unbridled entrepreneurship and a woman’s intense pursuit of the American Dream. Set in the 1990s, the series will tell the story of Krystal Gill (Dunst), an Orlando water park employee who schemes her way to the top of a pyramid scheme called Founders American Merchandise. [caption id=“attachment_4610911” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Kirsten Dunst and George Clooney. Image via Twitter[/caption] Variety reports the series, written by co-creators Robert Funke and Matt Lutsky, is scheduled for release next year on YouTube Premium. YouTube’s alliance with two powerhouse names in Hollywood comes as competition intensifies in an online streaming video market with players such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Apple. Original content has become a battlefront in online video, with Netflix and Amazon Prime spending billions of dollars on shows. YouTube Premium, formerly named YouTube Red, had a hit with its first big original series, Cobra Kai, inspired by the Karate Kid martial arts underdog film from 1984. The first episode of Cobra Kai has logged more than 40 million views since it was made available at YouTube on 2 May and a second season has been ordered. Launched in late 2015, YouTube Premium includes an online streaming music service and is seen as part of a broader effort by Google-parent Alphabet to expand how it makes money beyond advertising revenue. With inputs from AFP