HBO Skateboard Drama ‘Betty’ Premieres May 1

HBO skateboard series Betty begins May 1. There are six half-hour episodes in the season, which is based on Crystal Moselle’s Skate Kitchen film, about women skateboarding in New York City.

Dede Lovelace, Moonbear, Nina Moran, Ajani Russell and Rachelle Vinberg are in the cast. All were in the film.

Betty is directed by Moselle. Moselle, Lesley Arfin, Igor Srubshchik and Jason Weinberg are executive producers. Arfy Material and Untitled Entertainment produce the series.

“Opinionated and loyal, Janay (Lovelace) is strong willed and stubborn in ways that both help and hurt her. Honeybear (Moonbear) is a quiet storm. Her flagrant style is a ruse; an armor she wears to hide her emotional struggles. Kirt (Moran) is a lover (to the ladies), a fighter (to the rest of the world), and a little kid in the body of a woman. She’s the funniest person alive, but even if she knew it, she wouldn’t care. Meanwhile, Indigo (Russell) is a street-savvy hustler trapped in the body of a well-to-do art school drop-out.”

HBO continues, “On the edge of the group is Camille (Vinberg), guarded, perceptive, intelligent and awkward. She wants to be down with the dudes in the skate park and has fought hard for the small space she’s carved out with them, but she needs to realize that cool points don’t actually add up to the sum of anything, especially in the eyes of the other girls.”

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.