Netflix Orders Series Adaptation of Big-Screen Comedy Dear White People
Another movie-to-TV adaptation is in the works — but this time, it’s coming from the indie world.
Netflix announced Thursday that it’s ordered 10 episodes of Dear White People, a half-hour comedy series based on writer/director/producer Justin Simien’s Sundance award-winning satire. (The full trailer for the movie is embedded below.)
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The logline for the series — which Simien will write (and also serve as director on the pilot episode) — is as follows: “Set among a diverse group of students of color as they navigate a predominantly white Ivy League college where racial tensions are often swept under the rug, Dear White People is a send up of ‘post-racial’ America that also weaves a universal story about forging one’s own unique path.”
Production will begin later this year, in the hopes of a 2017 premiere.
“During the film’s release, I had the pleasure to speak with hundreds of students and faculty across a variety of college campuses dealing with these very issues in real time,” said Simien, in a release. “I’m so grateful to have this platform – not only to give a voice to those too often unheard in our culture, but to also tell great stories from new points of views.”
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Devon Shepard (House of Lies, Weeds), Stephanie Allain Bray (Hustle & Flow) and Julia Lebedev (Dear White People) will also serve as executive producers.
Netflix noted that Dear White People “first gained traction in 2012 with a concept trailer, underwritten by Simien’s tax refund. By 2014, the crowd-funded movie made a splash at film festivals, earning the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.” The film starred Tyler James Williams, Tessa Thompson, Teyonah Parris and Dennis Haysbert, among others.
Will you tune in for Dear White People, the series? Sound off below!
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