Civil and voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer will be getting the biopic treatment.
Common is set to produce a feature about the life of Hamer, titled God’s Long Summer, which will follow Hamer’s rise from oppressive plantation sharecropping system in 1962 Mississippi where at 44 years of age, according to the project’s synopsis “she fought against the Southern political establishment, systemic racism and misogyny by exercising her right to vote and fighting for the rights of others. Labeled as plain spoken and unfit to lead the movement, Hamer captivated the nation with her powerful voice, sheer will, and faith in her fight against leaders at the highest levels of state and federal government and within the Civil Rights Movement itself to help secure passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”
Peter J. Meli wrote the screenplay, based on Hamer’s 1967 autobiography To Praise Our Bridges and the book God’s Long Summer by Charles Marsh, which chronicles of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s through the struggles and triumphs of key actors, including Hamer.
Waxylu Films is behind the project, along with Dream Management and Entertainment and Triump Inc., which hold the rights to Hamer’s life story. Along with Common, whose past producing credits include Selma and The Chi, Jennifer Madeloff and Jeff Waxman will produce God’s Long Summer for Waxylu Films, along with Jay Speights, D. Min of Triumph Inc., and Jackie Bazan of Bazan Entertainment.
“Fannie Lou Hamer is a revolutionary figure we should all know,” says Common. “Her story and impact is evidence that Black History IS American History. We have all benefited from her work and dedication. I feel blessed to be working with this incredible group of producers to bring this story to the screen.”
Charles McLaurin, field secretary for the Hamer-organized Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s first voter organizing efforts in the Mississippi Delta and close friend of Hamer, along with Hamer’s cousin Minister Vester Townsend Lobbins will serve as story consultants.
“It’s impossible to talk about voting rights in America and not include Mrs. Hamer. Her story will serve as a reminder of our long history of struggle to secure voter rights for all citizens in this country, and, add her powerful voice to the current struggle to pass new voting rights legislation,” offers McLaurin. Lobbins adds,“I hope this movie will introduce Fannie Lou to a new generation of activists and freedom fighters and inspire them to ‘keep on fighting til ‘America gets it right’, as she used to say,” says Minister Vester Townsend Lobbins.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Amazon Studios is developing Am I There Yet? a comedy series based on Mari Andrew’s bestselling semi-autobiographical book, from writer Camilla Blackett (Skins) and Rachel Brosnahan’s Scrap Paper Pictures.
Written by Blackett, Am I There Yet? is a soulful, honest and optimistic guide to growing up, capturing all the feelings and comical complexities of budding adulthood in your 20s.
Blackett executive produces with Alexandra Zimbler Smith and Brosnahan and Paige Simpson for Scrap Paper Pictures. Andrew will co-executive produce. The project stems from Brosnahan’s first-look deal with Amazon Studios for her Scrap Paper Pictures.
UK native Blackett began her career as a writer on the first two seasons of the hit British series Skins. After relocating to Los Angeles, Blackett joined the writing staff of Season 2 of Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series Newsroom. She went on to staff Fox comedy New Girl, followed by three seasons on staff of the ABC comedy Fresh Off The Boat. Blackett also is developing Vineyard at Amazon, with Springhill and Warner Bros. TV. She recently sold and is set to star in Max at HBO Max for Industrial Media with Radical Act producing. On the feature side, Blackett is writing and will executive produce her original project Queen for Universal and star Marsai Martin. She’s repped by Black Box Management and Morris Yorn.
Under the company’s first-look deal with Amazon Studios, Scrap Paper Pictures, which Brosnahan founded with Rachel Brosnahan alongside Head of Development Paige Simpson, executive produced the all-female comedy special Yearly Departed, which was released in December. The special was recently nominated for WGA and Art Directors Guild awards. Brosnahan also produced the feature film, I’m Your Woman, in which she also starred. Next up, Brosnahan is set to executive produce and star in The Switch, based on the novel of the same name, with Amblin Partners. Brosnahan and Scrap Paper Pictures are repped by CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Schreck Rose Dapello.
Source: Deadline
Keith and Kenny Lucas are set to write and star in a semi-autobiographical comedy that has Judd Apatow attached to produce.
The project will focus on the Lucas brothers’ lives as identical twins in Newark, New Jersey. The brothers will write the screenplay with Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel.
Apatow, who most recently produced and directed Pete Davidson’s semi-autobiographical comedy feature The King of Staten Island, will produce via his Apatow Productions banner, with Universal set to distribute.
The brothers, repped by UTA, Fourth Wall Management and Hansen Jacobson, are also behind a reboot of Revenge of the Nerds from Seth MacFarlane, which will see them write and also star.
Past credits include Netflix stand-up special On Drugs and 22 Jump Street, as well as a story credit on Judas and the Black Messiah, which earned them a WGA nomination.
Apatow is gearing up to shoot pandemic-inspired comedy The Bubble for Netflix.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
America Ferrera is making her feature film directorial debut with “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.” The film, adapted from Erika L. Sánchez’s novel, will debut on Netflix.
The YA story is about losing a sister and finding yourself amid the pressures, expectations and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican American home. It follows Julia Reyes, a strong-willed teenager to first-generation Mexican immigrants. She often argues with her parents, who wish Julia were more like her sister Olga. However, when Olga unexpectedly dies in an accident, Julia tries to hold her family together.
The script will be written by Linda Yvette Chávez.
“Years ago, I fell in love with Erika L. Sánchez’ stunning novel, ‘I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,’” Ferrera said. “The depth, wit and searing intelligence of her writing, and her young Latina heroine, struck me to my core and left me wanting so much more. I am truly honored and humbled to direct Linda Yvette Chávez’s beautifully adapted screenplay. The opportunity to direct the work of these two incredibly talented Latina writers is a dream come true. I can’t wait to share this film with the many fans of the novel, and to introduce this funny, profound, and resonant story to the world.”
Anonymous Content optioned the rights to the book under the company’s first-look deal with Aevitas Creative Management. Anonymous Content and Macro are producing “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.”
Anonymous Content’s Doreen Wilcox Little, Macro’s Charles D. King and Poppy Hanks are producing the movie with Aevitas Creative Management’s David Kuhn. Aevitas’s Michelle Brower and Macro’s Greta Fuentes are executive producing. Sánchez will serve as co-producer.
Ferrera has previously directed episodes of “Superstore,” the NBC workplace comedy that she also produced and starred in. Her other notable credits include “Ugly Betty,” “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and “Real Women Have Curves.”
Source: Variety
Daniel Sunjata is set as a new series regular opposite Mary J. Blige and Michael Rainey Jr. in Season 2 of Starz’s Power Book II: Ghost, the first spinoff series in the expanded Power Universe franchise. Courtney A. Kemp and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson executive produce alongside Mark Canton. Kemp also serves as series creator and showrunner. Season 2 began filming this month in New York. Lionsgate TV is the studio.
The first season of Power Book II: Ghost picked up shortly after the earth-shattering events of Power as Tariq St. Patrick (Rainey Jr.) grapples with a new world order: his father dead and his mother, Tasha, facing charges for the murder her son committed. With no better options, Tariq turns to the familiar drug game, entangling himself with a cutthroat family headed by Monet Stewart Tejada (Blige), that’s been at it far longer than him.
Sunjata will play Mecca. The Big Bad. He is calculated, manipulative, and dangerous. Mecca conveniently reemerges in New York at the exact moment the Tejadas need to fill the void of a new product supplier. But when his mysterious past starts to become exposed, it reveals the drug business might not be his only end game with this family.
Power Book II: Ghost hails from Kemp’s End of Episode, Jackson’s G-Unit Film and Television, and Mark Canton’s Atmosphere Entertainment MM. Kemp, Jackson and Canton executive produce with End of Episode’s Chris Selak and Danielle De Jesus, Shana Stein, and Bart Wenrich.
Former Rescue Me, Graceland and Notorious star Sunjata recently co-starred in Quibi’s #FreeWayShawn and had a major recurring role on NBC’s Manifest. He is repped by Gersh, Authentic Talent and Literary Management and Schreck Rose Dapello.
Source: Deadline
Comedian Ronny Chieng has struck a deal with Netflix for three upcoming projects: two new stand-up specials and a docu-style comedy special.
The still-to-be-titled docu-comedy special is described as a “semi-scripted road trip comedy” in which Chieng and his fellow comedian David Fung journey through a one-of-a-kind tour of America’s Chinatowns to promote local businesses, explore Asian American culture and push “each other to the limits of a brotherly love/hate relationship.” Chieng will not only star in this project, but he also serves as writer and executive producer. It will be produced in partnership with Fair Point. Producers for Fair Point are Jon Cohen, Jon Wolf and Adam Conover.
These projects continue Chieng’s relationship with the streaming giant after the success of his first stand-up special, “Asian Comedian Destroys America,” which launched in December 2019.
The premiere dates for his docu-comedy special and his two new stand-up specials are still to be announced.
In addition to his stand-up, Chieng is best known for his work as senior correspondent on “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah,” acting in “Crazy Rich Asians,” and for the global sitcom he created and starred in, “Ronny Chieng: International Student.” Variety chose him as one of the 10 Comedians to Watch in 2016 and then selected him as one of the most impactful players in comedy just last year. Up next he will also appear in feature films including “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
Chieng is repped by APA, Artists First, Cohen Gardner LLP and Sechel.
Source: Variety
Rome Flynn (How to Get Away with Murder), Aubriana Davis (Genius: Aretha), Tracey Bonner (Sweet Magnolias) and Josh Ventura (P-Valley) have joined the Season 2 cast of Netflix’s superhero drama series Raising Dion. Production on the eight-episode second run is underway in Atlanta. Producing director Darren Grant will direct the first block of the season.
Returning as series regulars are Alisha Wainwright, Ja’Siah Young, Sammi Haney, and Jazmyn Simon. Ali Ahn and Griffin Robert Faulkner have been upped to regulars for Season 2.
Based on the comic book by Dennis Liu, Raising Dion follows the story of Nicole (Wainwright), who raises her son Dion (Young) after the death of her husband, Mark (Michael B. Jordan). The normal dramas of raising a son as a single mom are amplified when Dion starts to manifest several mysterious, superhero-like abilities. Nicole must now keep her son’s gifts secret with the help of Mark’s best friend Pat (Jason Ritter) and protect Dion from antagonists out to exploit him while figuring out the origin of his abilities.
Daytime Emmy winner Flynn will play Tevin Wakefield, a former long-distance runner and Olympic track coach who becomes Dion’s trainer and mentor. He is protective yet playful and develops a close relationship with both Dion and Nicole.
Davis will portray Janelle Carr, a 15-year-old girl who has been labeled destructive and dangerous. Janelle’s mother brings her to Biona in hope of managing her “behavioral issues” once and for all. As she forms a bond with Nicole and Dion, Janelle begins to feel heard and valued for the first time in her life.
Bonner will play Simone Carr, Janelle’s mother, who is frightened for her daughter’s future and just wants her to live a normal life.
Ventura is David Marsh, the new VP Operations for Biona, who hopes to rekindle his personal relationship with Suzanne Wu (Ahn).
Raising Dion Season 1 was one of the 10 most popular series on Netflix in 2019 and the most popular Kids & Family series release of 2019.
Carol Barbee serves as showrunner. Jordan and Kenny Goodman executive produce with Dennis Liu and Grant — who also direct — Michael Green and Macro’s Charles D. King, Poppy Hanks and Marta Fernandez. Raising Dion is produced by Super Spring Productions.
Flynn, who won an Emmy for his work on The Bold and the Beautiful, played the role of Gabriel on ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder. He is repped by Innovative Artists, Margie Weiner Management and Emily Downs at Meyer & Downs.
Davis is repped by Osbrink Talent Agency and People Store. Bonner is repped by Stewart Talent and Jackson Entertainment. Ventura is repped by Atlanta Models and Talent and Authentic Talent & Literary Management.
Source: Deadline
In a pairing of two of the most prolific TV producers of the past decade, Kenya Barris, the creator/executive producer behind the Black-ish franchise, and the Power franchise executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, are developing a series for Netflix. It is based on The 50th Law, the bestselling book by Jackson and Robert Greene.
Barris and Hale Rothstein, who together executive produce Barris’ Netflix comedy series blackAF, will write the pilot script and executive produce the potential series alongside Jackson via G-Unit and Greene. Lionsgate TV will produce via Jackson’s overall deal at Starz.
The 50th Law is a semi-autobiographical account detailing 50 Cent’s rise as both a young urban hustler and as an up-and-coming musician with lessons and anecdotes from historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Sun Tzu, Socrates, Napoleon, Malcolm X and James Baldwin.
Barris executive produces through his company Khalabo Ink Society via his overall deal at Netflix, which he recently exited for a producing pact at ViacomCBS. At Netflix, Barris created, executive produces and stars in comedy series #blackAF, which has been renewed for a second season. Through his Khalabo Ink Society, Barris also executive produces the Astronomy Club sketch comedy series and the upcoming Kid Cudi adult animated music series Entergalactic.
Through his G-Unit Film & Television, Jackson executive produced Starz’s flagship drama Power, created by Courtney Kemp, and now executive produces the four greenlit spinoff series. Power Book II: Ghost already has been renewed for a second season; Power Book III: Raising Kanan is slated to debut this year. Additionally, under Jackson’s overall deal at Starz, G-Unit is ramping up for Season 1 production on Black Mafia Family and has Season 2 of ABC drama series For Life. The G-Unit slate also includes Family Affair at ABC, A Moment In Time: Massacre and an untitled Female Sports Agent project at Starz, and the T.I.-lead Twenty Four Seven at Paramount+. Jackson is repped by APA and attorneys Eric Feig and Stephen Savva.
Longtime Barris collaborator Rothstein brought The 50th Law project to him. Rothstein reunited with Barris on blackAF having previously worked on Barris’ ABC comedy series Black-ish and spinoff Grown-ish. On the film side, Rothstein co-adapted the remake of Brewster’s Millions for Universal & Davis Entertainment. He also co-created the comedy Bright Futures, which went to pilot at NBC. Rothshtein is repped by APA and Morris Yorn.
Barris and his Khalabo Ink Society have the Peabody-winning Black-ish, two successful spinoff series in Grown-ish (Freeform) and Mixed-ish (ABC), as well as another spinoff in the works, Old-ish. On the feature side, the company is in production on a reboot of the family comedy Cheaper By the Dozen starring Gabrielle Union and Zach Braff, along with several other high-profile projects in the works including an animated feature based on the songs of Bob Marley, a remake of the classic sports comedy White Men Can’t Jump, and a film about comedic icon Richard Pryor that will mark Barris’ feature directorial debut. Additionally, Khalabo Ink Society, which focuses on socially conscious storytelling that reflects our culture and tackles contemporary issues and themes, has expanded its imprint into other genres of storytelling with several projects in various stages of development including a documentary feature about the life and career of groundbreaking civil rights attorney Ben Crump and a feature-length musical about Juneteenth with Pharrell Williams. Barris is repped by CAA, Artists First and attorney Gregg Gellman.
Greene is the bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, which has sold well over 2 million copies; The Art of Seduction, which has sold over 1 million copies; as well as The 33 Strategies of War, Mastery, The Laws of Human Nature and The 50th Law, which he co-wrote with Jackson. Greene is repped by CAA and Michael Carlisle at Inkwell.
BET Plus has ordered the original series “Birth of Cool” in its first-ever partnership with “Gentefied” producers Macro Television Studios and Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and actor Lena Waithe’s production house Hillman Grad Productions.
The 10-episode half-hour dramedy marks Waithe’s third original production with the brand— her other two series with BET are “Twenties” and “Boomerang.”
“Birth of Cool” follows the adventures and misadventures of both students and teachers at Crispus Attucks High, a predominantly black high school in Compton, as they try to make it through the weird, hilarious, stressful, often sobering, and sometimes surreal academic year while hopefully growing a bit in the process on and off-campus.
The show was created by writer-director Juel Taylor and writer Tony Rettenmaier, who both previously worked on the upcoming sci-fi comedy “They Cloned Tyrone” starring John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris. Taylor and Rettenmaier are also attached to executive produce, with Taylor directing the pilot. Taylor and Rettenmaier are repped by WME, Redefine Entertainment and The Gotham Group.
“BET Plus continues to be the home for best-in-class creatives to tell their original stories about the Black experience,” said Devin Griffin, Executive Vice President and General Manager, BET Plus, in a statement. “We appreciate Lena’s creative vision and continued trust and are thrilled to partner with a skilled group of creators from MACRO Television Studios and Hillman Grad to bring this series to life.”
Along with Waithe, Marta Fernandez, president of Macro Television Studios, CEO and founder of Macro Television Studios Charles D. King, Hillman Grad Production co-founder Rishi Rajani, Aaliyah Williams and David Morris will serve as executive producers. Fernandez and Mark R. Wright will oversee for Macro Television Studios, and the company’s partners on the series are Endeavor Content (“Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men,” “Killing Eve”) and Hillman Grad Productions (“Queen of Slim,” “The Chi”). Macro co-financed the critically acclaimed “Mudbound,” “Fences,” “Sorry to Bother You” and “Just Mercy.” It also produced Netflix’s “Tigertail” and co-financed and produced the Golden Globe-nominated Daniel Kaluuya-led film “Judas and the Black Messiah” for Warner Bros. Pictures. “Raising Dion” and “Gentefied,” both executive produced by Macro, have been greenlit for second seasons on Netflix.
Hillman Grad Productions is currently developing a Sammy Davis Jr. biopic adapted from the Renaissance man’s daughter Tracey Davis’ book “Sammy Davis Jr.: MY Father,” with Waithe and Rajani producing alongside Sight Unseen Pictures. Waithe also penned the script for Universal Pictures’ forthcoming movie “Talent Show,” based on an idea by Duane Adler from the “Step Up” franchise. Cynthia Erivo (“Harriet,” “Widows”) is set to star in “Talent Show” and Waithe will executive produce alongside State Street Pictures and Rajani will oversee for Hillman Grad Productions. Other Hillman Grad Productions projects currently in production or development include “Them” for Amazon; “Untitled Kid Fury Project’ for HBO; and “Reawakening”.
Source: Variety