A rtist-author-musician Vivek Shraya’s one-person play How to Fail as a Popstar is finding success in the TV world, with production now underway on a CBC Gem original adaptation of the same name.

Sphere Media (formerly Sienna Films) is producing the eight-episode limited series with the financial participation of the Telus Fund, the Bell Fund, and the Shaw Rocket Fund, according to a news release. Shraya (pictured left) created and wrote the coming-of-age story, which is executive produced by Bruno Dubé, Jennifer Kawaja, Elise Cousineau, Caroline Habib, Laura Perlmutter, Shraya, and Vanessa Matsui.

Matsui (pictured right; Midnight at the Paradise, Ghost BFF) also directs the comedy, while Shraya co-directs one episode and also stars. Other cast members include Adrian Pavone (Star Trek: Discovery) and Chris D’Silva (Slumberland) as Shraya at various stages of life.

Filming will continue in Toronto for three weeks, with the series expected to premiere on CBC Gem later in 2023.

How to Fail as a Popstar is “about a queer brown boy with a huge voice doing everything he can to become a popstar – as told by the queer trans femme that boy becomes, looking back on how and why that dream was never realized,” said the release.

The Polaris Music Prize-nominated Shraya wrote and created the stage version, which was directed by Brendan Healy and debuted in February 2020, commissioned and produced by Canadian Stage in Toronto. In June of that year, the TV adaptation received development support from the CBC Creative Relief Fund.

The cast for the TV adaptation also includes Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves (Sort Of), Nadine Bhabha (Letterkenny), Arwen Humphreys (Murdoch Mysteries), Eric Johnson (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin), Matsui, and ​​Aayushma Sapkota in her first role.