Oprah Winfrey for "shocking" HBO pilot

Oprah Winfrey has signed up for a new HBO pilot, according to Variety.

The untitled project will see Winfrey's Harpo Films team up with Secretary writer Erin Cressida Wilson.

The pilot will reportedly revolve around a woman who leaves her seemingly perfect marriage and home for a self-indulgent life in LA.

Harpo Films president Kate Forte said: "It is unsentimental and pretty shocking, and there is something complicated and destructive driving her.

"It is literally a day at the pool, where she gets up, in sarong and flip-flops, and walks out of her life, leaving everyone behind so abruptly that her husband and kids initially think she's been kidnapped or murdered."

Last week, Winfrey announced plans to quit her long-running talkshow The Oprah Winfrey Show.