Market Block Books in Troy, N.Y., served as the filming location recently for the pilot episode of the TV sitcom Books. The Times Union reported that the show "follows recently canceled author Wren Wild (Rick and Morty star Spencer Grammer) who escaped to her deceased father's bookstore following public outrage over her fourth novel. Helping her keep the store alive is an eclectic staff and her former agent, Murry Shankman (Office Space favorite Ajay Naidu), a well-meaning, not-so-silent partner of the shop."
"We pictured this whole world where the show about books could be an incredible place to go, but it could also get people more excited to go to their bookstores and to think of those bookstores as community places," said Books co-creator Kristina Libby.
Susan Novotny, owner of Market Block Books as well as the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, told the Times Union she thinks the team has a hit, and one that will resonate with her indie bookstore-owning peers: "Something we've all fantasized about is having a sitcom done that's set in a bookstore. In the bookstore, there's this beautiful symphony of humor and absurdity and intellect and politics and more humor, hopefully, next to the politics, and enlightenment and craziness."
Now that the pilot has wrapped, two paths are available to the team, the Times Union wrote. The first is to get an experienced showrunner who will let co-creators Libby and Tim Cahill remain head writers attached to the project, with Mikah Khan directing. The other option is to raise money, independently produce the series, and license it out.
Either way, Libby said, "I want to do it in this store with these people. We would want to come back here. This bookstore is special, this area is special and this talent is really special."