Exclusive: Independent television pilots made some noise in 2024 with series such as Mark Duplass’ Penelope landing at Netflix.

The team behind Books, a comedy pilot, hope this remains true next year.

The project is headlined by Spencer Grammer, who voices Summer Smith in Rick and Morty, and Ajay Naidu, who starred in Office Space.

Filmed at Market Block Books, an independent bookstore in Troy, New York this week, the pilot follows cancelled author Wren Wild (Grammer) as she leads a quirky crew willing to do anything to keep their bookstore alive. Naidu plays her silent partner Murry, a former book agent who has no idea what he’s doing.

The pilot comes from director Micah Khan, who recently made his feature directorial debut with The Zombie Wedding, producer Victoria Diana and cinematographer Adam Muro with Tim Cahill, Kristina Libby and Patrick Regan of 7th Draft Productions exec producing.

The cast also includes Deepti Menon,...