It seems congratulations are in order for Twenties and The Chi creator Lena Waithe!
Per a press release sent to The Root, the multi-hyphenate, Emmy-winning creative has just snagged an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group. The exclusive multi-year agreement, which extends to Waithe, her producing partner Rishi Ranaji and her Hillman Grad Productions, will include a slew of new television programming as well as making WBTVG the home for all of her future projects. First up on the slate: a coming-of-age drama titled Hoop Dreams.
“We are thrilled to be joining the WBTVG family and incredibly grateful to Channing, Clancy and the rest of the team for believing in us and supporting our mission to give underrepresented artists a platform,” Waithe and Rajani said in a statement. “To have our first project together be an adaptation of the seminal documentary Hoop Dreams is a testament to the ambition of our partnership. Hoop Dreams was more than just a documentary, it was a groundbreaking window into a community that was rarely ever seen. It provided a deeply intimate look at two families with hopes of capturing the American dream. Our goal is to continue telling that story with our collaborators at Playground Entertainment and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas as our showrunner. We look forward to bringing the legacy of Hoop Dreams back to the screen.”
Hoop Dreams, the series—which is based on the 1994 documentary of the same name, will tell the story of “two African American teenage boys in 1990s Chicago experiencing the privileges and pitfalls of being high school basketball phenoms at the height of the Jordan era, and the start of high school players turning pro. Through their friendship and rivalry, the boys must learn to empower themselves in a world that considers them commodities before they can legally drive.”
Added Hoop Dreams executive producers Steve James, Peter Gilbert and Frederick Marx:
“We are excited to work with Hillman Grad, Playground and Warner Bros. Television on adapting Hoop Dreams into a scripted television series. There’s been quite a bit of interest over the years since the film came out in 1994, but Lena Waithe is the ideal Chicagoan to lead the effort to finally make it happen.”
As previously reported by The Root, Waithe also signed a multi-year deal with Amazon’s Audible back in August. The first project has already been greenlit.