Month: April 2021

Netflix has given the green light to Madam C.J. Walker, an eight-episode limited series starring and executive produced by Oscar winner Octavia Spencer and executive produced by LeBron James. The announcement was made by VP original programming Cindy Holland during Netflix’s TCA executive session.

Janine Sherman Barrois and Elle Johnson are set as showrunners on the Zero Gravity-produced series about the legendary African American entrepreneur and philanthropist, with Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou, Talk to Me) on board to direct the first episode. Warner Bros. TV is the studio via SpringHill’s Warner Bros. deal.

Written by Nicole Asher based on the book On Her Own Ground by A’Lelia Bundles, Madam C.J. Walker tells the untold and highly irreverent story of black hair care pioneer and mogul Madam C.J. Walker and how she overcame hostile turn-of-the-century America, epic rivalries, tumultuous marriages and some trifling family to become America’s first black, self-made female millionaire.

Spencer stars as Sarah Breedlove, famously known as Madam C.J. Walker. She executive produces alongside LeBron James and Maverick Carter via SpringHill and Mark Holder, Christine Holder via Zero Gravity as well as Barrois and Johnson. Lemmons executive produces the first episode.

On Her Own Ground, published in 2002 by Scribner, is described as the definitive biography of Walker, written by her great-great-granddaughter, Bundles.

Zero Gravity in 2016 optioned the rights to the book to develop as a limited series with Spencer starring and executive producing, Asher writing and Lemmons directing. The following year, James and his SpringHill came on board and the project was set up at Netflix for development.

Madam C.J. Walker was SpringHill’s first scripted series project and now becomes the company’s first greenlighted scripted series.

The daughter of slaves, Walker was orphaned at seven, married at 14 and widowed at 20. She spent the better part of the next two decades laboring as a washerwoman for $1.50 a week. Then — with the discovery of a revolutionary hair care formula for black women — everything changed. By her death in 1919, Walker managed to overcome astonishing odds, building a storied beauty empire from the ground up, amassing wealth unprecedented among black women and devoting her life to philanthropy and social activism. Along the way, she formed friendships with great early 20th century political figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington.

Spencer also stars in and executive produces Apple’s upcoming drama series Are You Sleeping.

It was an explosive and controversial story when it was published in 1948 and still remains so to this day. Shirley Jackson’s classic short story The Lottery,which centers on violence, inhumanity and judgment in a small New England town, is being adapted — for the first time — as a feature film by a producing team led by Kennedy/Marshall at Paramount Pictures. Jake Wade Wall (The Hitcher) is writing the screenplay and author Jackson’s son Laurence Hyman (who runs the estate) is an executive producer on the project.

Frank Marshall, a veteran filmmaker who has, in recent years, produced such features as Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, Jason Bourne and Sully, will produce along with Zero Gravity’s Christine Holder, Andrew Wilson and Mark Holder. Andy Raymer is the exec for the project at Kennedy/Marshall and Liz Raposo and Jon Gonda are sheparding the development at Paramount.

“I liked what Jake was doing in developing it and bringing up to the present day. It’s has a dystopian, Handmaid’s Tale feel about it, which makes it very timely,” Marshall told Deadline. “And, it has a great twist at the end.”

The Lottery first appeared as a short story in the pages of The New Yorker and instantly became controversial as the story slowly unfolded revealing a town tradition and superstition to help ensure a good farming season. It has the towns folk picking up a piece of paper out of a weathered box. It’s a tradition that has gone on for decades, as one man says, it was his 77th time. When one family picks a piece of paper and ends up “marked,” despite protests from the desperate mother, they continue to chose again within the family until a black spot appears on the piece of paper. It’s only until the mother’s panic, does the reader know something isn’t right.

Rather then receiving a prize, the person with the spot is marked for something, but what it is is not clear until the very end of the story. The reader is thrown from hope to disbelief in a matter of only about eight pages. The black spot ends up with the protesting mother. The last scene of the story has everyone, even children, picking up rocks to, shockingly, stone the mother to death.

The story explores themes of mob mentality, the lack of courage to speak up to stop what is clearly an illogical and unjust system and never questioning tradition. Some critics, at the time, called it satire. Others called it gruesome and outrageous. Regardless, the narrative is a slow build from what seems to be a nice gathering in a village of about 300 to a harrowing story of dread, panic and disbelief.

Wade Wall is repped at APA and Zero Gravity while Murray Weiss repped the Shirley Jackson Estate in the deal.

KC Perry (The Originals) wrote Constance, with Emmy nominee Jesse Peretz (Glow, Girls) attached to direct. Constance is produced by Team Downey, in association with Sonar Entertainment and Studio T, with Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey (Sherlock Holmes), Amanda Burrell, Bill Dubuque (Ozark), Tom Lesinski (Mr. Mercedes), Jenna Santoianni (Mr. Mercedes), Peretz, Shue and Perry serving as executive producers.

Constance is a fun, darkly humorous, veneer-stripping story about one woman’s refusal to fade into obsolescence. It follows former beauty queen turned small town bureaucrat, Constance Young, whose life is thrown into turmoil after her husband’s mysterious death. Realizing she and her family are on the verge of financial ruin, Constance turns to cooking the books at City Hall, while simultaneously trying to reinvent herself through the hyper-competitive world of direct-sales cosmetics.

“Constance and Beast Mode exist in two radically different worlds, one of cosmetics and crime, and the other of elite boxing, but both pilots are about complicated, empowered women who are incredible forces of nature,” said Sarah Aubrey, EVP of original programming for TNT. “Their passion and ambition, mixed with a healthy dose of craziness, make them unforgettable characters that our viewers will love.”

Shue received a best actress Oscar nomination for Leaving Las Vegas. On TV she starred for three seasons as Julie Finlay in CSI and next co-stars on Amazon’s The Boys.

It’s a great story that delves into the caste system, racism and sexism. The Rhinelander Affair, written by William Kinsolving, follows the controversial 1925 divorce trial in New York involving a man from an upper-class New Rochelle family who married a bi-racial, working-class woman. It is a ripped from the headlines story from the 1920s with many meaty roles in what was a roller coaster ride about money, love, racism and betrayal.

The project is now being produced for the big screen by Mark and Christine Holder (who found the story), Octavia Spencer, Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere’s Flavor Unit Entertainment and Dave Broome (The Day I Met El Chapo). The Kingsolving manuscript, repped by Trident, is going out to publishers this summer.

The story revolves around Leonard Rhinelander and Alice Jones, who fell in love (she was 22 and he 18), and then were kept apart by Rhinelander’s family. However, they married in secret before it spilled into the papers and stayed that way for three years. At issue was whether Jones duped Leonard into marrying her by hiding the fact that she was bi-racial (she was the daughter of an English woman and an English-West Indian taxi driver). Leonard stood by Alice under intense media scrutiny until pressures — both internally with the family and externally — caused them to divorce.

When they went to court, Alice Rhinelander faced an all-white, all-male jury. At one point, Alice had to disrobe and show portions of her body to prove that she wasn’t “a Negro.”

Her defense attorney was a 55-year-old Lee Davis, a highly capable attorney who was facing great odds. He was a former DA who convicted 32 first-degree murderers, but this was a case unlike anything he had ever experienced.

The trial was perilous. Struggling to reach a strategy, Alice willingly admitted she had black blood in her veins, making the Rhinelanders’ charge moot. Then Davis stated that Leonard had to have known she was to some degree black. If so, there was no fraud. That’s when Alice had to disrobe and show parts of her body to prove her case.

The case unfolded in American during the throes of radical societal change of indulgence and even bigotry (the KKK would hold open rallies across the country during this time). In fact, the KKK was able to march 50,000 strong in Washington D.C. even as black regiments had fought for America during World War I; it was devastating for soldiers of color who had to watch the KKK hold rallies in big cities such as Chicago. The anti-protests that did occur during this time were small. That was the societal environment in which this trial took place.

Spencer is currently starring and executive producing Are You Sleeping, the first Apple production which is a 10-episode series. She is also starring in and producing Madame CJ Walker with LeBron James as a limited series at Netflix (that project is also being done with the Holders). She is also an exec producer along with DreamWorks on The Green Book, which will be released at the box office during the Thanksgiving holiday this year.

Flavor Unit has produced several films and TV series including Bringing Down the House, Beauty Shop, Deuces, The Queen Latifah Show and the current Scream for MTV. Latifah has been exec producing show after show including The Rap Game, From the Bottom Up and Let’s Stay Together.

You couldn’t have two better powerhouse women behind this. Both actresses have been noticed by Oscar, with Latifah getting a supporting acting nom for her work in Chicago several years ago and Spencer winning an Oscar for her supporting role in The Help and nominations for both Hidden Figures and Best Picture winner The Shape of Water.

Nearly a year after sending shock waves through the TV community with her move to Netlfix, Shonda Rhimes has unveiled the full slate of series she is working on for the streaming giant. Details on ‘Sunshine Sachs’ below.

Sunshine Scouts is a darkly comic, ironic and twisty show about foul-mouthed teenage girls who are trapped at the end of the world. Writer-director Jill Alexander created the series and also serves as a co-exec producer. The half-hour series is Shondaland’s first comedy to get the green light following multiple pilot and script orders on broadcast. This was a longtime goal for Betsy Beers at Shondaland. The comedy is described as an apocalyptic disaster spares a ragtag group of teenage girls at sleepaway camp who must then summon their moxie and survival skills to weather the fallout and ensure all that remains of humanity abides by the Sunshine Scout Law.

Created by Joe Halpin, The Oath explores a world of gangs made up of those sworn to protect and defend and sheds light on corrupt and secret societies that are nearly impossible to join. Only a select few make the cut — but once inside, members will do what they must to protect each other from enemies on the outside and from within their own ranks. Season 2 finds the Ravens trying to free themselves from their debt to the cartel. The season will examine themes of family and redemption, giving the characters a chance to reclaim their lives as their own, pushing them to find a new path and attempting to conquer their inner demons – all while trying to protect their own lives in the process.

Paul is Eli Briggs, the leader of a ruthless cop gang named the Horsemen. Eli’s character plays an integral part in creating havoc for the Ravens as they struggle to survive in the cop gang world. Paul is repped by Nick Terry at Zero Gravity Management.

The Oath is executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G-Unit Film & Television Inc., Dennis Kim, Todd Hoffman, Anne Clements, and Joe Halpin who is also creator, writer and showrunner. Kwanten and Frances Lausell return as producers along with co-executive producer Jeff T. Thomas.

Cathy Shim (Reno 911) is set to appear in MGM and Warner Bros’ The Sun Is Also A Star film starring Grown-ish‘s Yara Shahidi and Riverdale‘s Charles Melton. Based on Nicola Yoon’s YA bestselling novel, the story follows Natasha (Shahidi), a girl in New York City whose pragmatism is challenged when she falls in love with Daniel (Melton) right before her family is set to be deported back to Jamaica. Shim will play Min Soo Bae, a Korean immigrant and Daniel’s overbearing mother. Ry Russo-Young is at the helm, directing from a screenplay by Tracy Oliver. Les Morgenstern and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton of Alloy Entertainment are producing the project, which has a release date set for May 17, while Oliver will also serve as exec producer. Cathy is repped by Zero Gravity Management, Global Artists Agency, and Jackoway, Austen, Tyerman.

The film adaptation of Uncharted has been in development purgatory for some time now, but that hasn’t stopped Nathan Fillion from taking matters into his own hands. The Firefly alum collaborated with filmmaker Allan Ungar on a live-action fan film based on the popular video game series.

Fans have said that Fillion would be the perfect person to play Nathan Drake because of their physical similarities and attitudes. By working with Ungar, it became a reality via a well-made 14-minute short which also stars Stephen Lang.

Uncharted follows Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter and descendant of explorer Sir Francis Drake. He believes he knows the whereabouts of the South American city of El Dorado and embarks on a quest, competing with a rival hunter.

Watch the short above.

Studio71 has picked up the film rights to MakerForce 5, a new live-action family adventure movie based on the original idea from Michael Younesi, director and executive producer of Netflix’s educational comedy series Project Mc2.

The plot follows five kids – a gamer, a comic book geek, an inventor, a skater and a martial artist – who must band together and use their unique skills, knowledge of sci-fi mythology, and an arsenal of homemade gadgets to fight off a mysterious invasion that happens after all of their town’s parents suddenly disappear.

Younesi will write and direct the project, while Studio71 will serve as executive producer.

“We are always looking for the most compelling stories for our growing slate,” said Michael Schreiber, President, Scripted Content, Studio71. “The science fiction genre Makerforce 5 encompasses along with its heartwarming story is a perfect mix that will delight young audiences.”

Younesi is repped by Zero Gravity Management and attorney Adam Kaller.

The site raves, “Cruz might not be the biggest player on Vida, but her presence is electric from the start. She bursts back into Emma’s life like a flash flood when she appears in the pilot, and even though very little is said, it’s clear right away that these two women mean something to each other. The sexual tension persists, finally boiling over when Emma ends up partying with Cruz and her crew of hot qpoc at a bar one night. Cruz challenges Emma, but she also sees her. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of her in season two.”