Starz plays around with release format for call girl series The Girlfriend Experience

Starz has set a premiere date for the upcoming drama series The Girlfriend Experience, but both a viewer’s subscription and their personal preferences will determine whether or not they indulge in the binge experience. Episodes will be aired weekly on the premium network for cable subscribers, but all 13 will also be made available on the series’ premiere date in the U.S. on Starz On Demand and Starz Play, according to CEO Chris Albrecht.

The decision to make the entire first season of The Girlfriend Experience isn’t unprecedented. In fact, Starz has proven to be willing to experiment with the traditional release model, trying out the all-at-once format this fall with DaVinci’s Demons and Flesh and Bone. However, the network has been reluctant to follow suit with certain other shows, namely its popular time travel drama Outlander.

For fans of the original Girlfriend Experience, a 2009 experimental drama film helmed by Steven Soderbergh, the ability to binge will likely come as good news. The series is based on the movie, but will further develop the original premise, according to Deadline, skewing in the direction of the thriller genre. At the center of the series will be Christine Reade (played by Riley Keough), a law student and intern, who decides to become a high-end call girl.

“I like the long form,” Soderbergh said of the TV adaptation during a TCA panel today. “In the case of this, Riley playing a character over the course of six and a half hours … you have time to let things breathe a little and let things develop.”

The filmmaker executive produces the series with Philip Fleishman, Gary Marcus, and Jeff Cuban, as well as Amy Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan, who wrote and directed the first season.

The Girlfriend Experience will premiere on April 10, and there will be just one question: To binge or not to binge?