In 2014, Margot Robbie founded her own production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, with a view to creating women-led films and television shows. Now, it has been announced that the actress and producer is set to create a new TV series based on the works of William Shakespeare – with each episode told from the perspective of a female character.

Deadline reports that a female creative team will lead the as-yet-untitled project, which is to be produced in Australia and set in the present day. Each of the 10 standalone episodes will be based on a different work by The Bard, with the goal of exploring different aspects of modern society. LuckyChap has partnered with Australian production company Hoodlum and ABC Studios International to create the series.

“We are thrilled about this Australian partnership as an opportunity to showcase unique, distinctly female voices in writing, and to demonstrate the high quality of the Australian film and television industry,” LuckyChap said in a statement.

“The project will share diverse points of view, from writers representing the different cultures and areas within Australia, which many would not readily associate with works of Shakespeare.”

Tracey Robertson, CEO of Hoodlum, said that the project “will bring together leading and emerging female voices in Australian screen to re-imagine Shakespeare in a modern context… This is an incredibly original and bold approach for a television series and I can’t wait to see the stories that will emerge.”

Robbie founded LuckyChap with her husband Tom Ackerley, and the couple were producers on the Oscar-nominated I, Tonya. As well as the Shakespearean reboot, the company has a number of other female-focused projects in the pipeline, including a TV drama set on Wall Street. Shattered Glass was sold to NBC in December 2017, and has been described by Variety as “an empowering post-feminist revenge fantasy” about “a trio of modern women who come together to shatter their respective glass ceilings”. 

LuckyChap is also co-producing a film about Maid Marian, the female lead in the legend of Robin Hood. Provisionally titled Marian, the film will follow the life of Marian after Robin Hood’s death, as she picks up his cause to lead her people into battle. Robbie, of course, will star as the warrior maiden.

Stylist’s Visible Women campaign was launched earlier this year to highlight the stories of amazing women, from the past and present day, that aren’t usually told. Robbie, too, has said that she wants her production company to be a place where women’s narratives are put front and centre.

“I want to be giving a chance to first and second time filmmakers, and then that idea kind of morphed into wanting to promote women in film in any way possible,” she told podcast The High Low in February. 

“Whether it’s female protagonists, or storytellers, that was kind of the thesis behind the company when we really started forming it.”

Stylist’s Visible Women campaign is dedicated to raising awareness of women who’ve made a difference, celebrating their success, and empowering future generations to follow their lead. See more from Visible Women here.  

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