Baz Luhrmann hip-hop drama picked up by Netflix

LOS GATOS, Calif., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Netflix has picked up Baz Luhrmann series The Get Down.

The streaming service has ordered a 13-episode first season of the new musical drama. Luhrmann will direct the first two episodes and the series finale, and executive produce the program with The Shield creator Shawn Ryan.

The Get Down is set in 1970s New York, and follows a group of down and out South Bronx teenagers. The series will see the characters explore the city's art and music scene as hip-hop, punk and disco begin to take form.

"From his very first and magnificently original steps on the world stage with Strictly Ballroom to his most recent with The Great Gatsby, Baz conjures worlds we may not recognize initially, but once there, realize they are infused with the same dreams of every person -- to belong, to matter, to live life to its fullest," original content vice president Cindy Holland said in a statement.

"In this golden era of TV, the Netflix culture puts no constraint on creative possibilities," Luhrmann added. "So it is a natural home for The Get Down, a project I've been contemplating and working on now for over 10 years. Throughout, I've been obsessed with the idea of how a city in its lowest moment, forgotten and half-destroyed, could give birth to such creativity and originality in music, art and culture."

Luhrmann is known for directing Romeo + Juliet (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001) and The Great Gatsby (2013), and tapped wife Catherine Martin to serve as costume and production designer on The Get Down. The 50-year-old designer has won four Academy Awards for her work on Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby.