UCP ANNOUNCES SECOND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT WITH SETH MACFARLANE'S FUZZY DOOR: "UNTITLED LITTLE ROCK NINE PROJECT"
Based on Carlotta Walls LaNier's Memoir 'A Mighty Long Way,' Eisa Davis will Adapt for Television
Seth MacFarlane, Erica Huggins, Chadwick Boseman, Logan Coles, Nick Marell, Coby Greenberg and Joe Micucci will Executive Produce
UCP, a division Universal Studio Group, is developing the limited series UNTITLED LITTLE ROCK NINE PROJECT with Fuzzy Door's Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins, via their overall television deal with NBCUniversal.
UCP's UNTITLED LITTLE ROCK NINE PROJECT will be written and executive produced by Eisa Davis. MacFarlane and Huggins will executive produce for Fuzzy Door. Chadwick Boseman and Logan Coles will executive produce on behalf of X·ception Content. Nick Marell, Coby Greenberg and Joe Micucci will also executive produce.
Logline: In 1957, after the landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, 14 year-old Carlotta Walls is among the first black students to attend the all-white Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. She walks into an unexpectedly violent struggle against integration, which suddenly turns her and the other black students into civil rights icons. For Carlotta - a teenager at the center of a cataclysmic moment in American history - graduating with her diploma means risking her life. But Carlotta searches for a way to keep her humanity intact at school and beyond, losing then regaining her selfhood in a coming of age leavened by humor, family, friendship, and solidarity.
The series is based on the best-selling memoir A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High by Carlotta Walls LaNier, the youngest member of The Little Rock Nine and the first African American female to graduate from the integrated school. Walls LaNier will consult on the project.
Previously Davis wrote for "She's Gotta Have It," Spike Lee's Netflix series, where she penned the series finale. She was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play "Bulrusher," and has recurred on "The Looming Tower," "Succession," "House of Cards," and "The Wire." Davis is represented by Gersh, and Nina Shaw at Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano.
UNTITLED LITTLE ROCK NINE PROJECT marks X·ception Content's first producing venture for television. The duo previously produced feature films: "Message from the King" and "21 Bridges."
UNTITLED LITTLE ROCK NINE PROJECT is the second development project announced by NBCUniversal since MacFarlane and Fuzzy Door inked their television deal earlier this year. Earlier this month, UCP announced the development of THE WINDS OF WAR which will be written and executive produced by MacFarlane and Seth Fisher, with Huggins executive producing for Fuzzy Door.
About UCP: Universal Content Productions (UCP), a division of Universal Studio Group, is a premium content studio that operates with a curated indie sensibility while leveraging the power and scale of NBCUniversal. Advocates for creators with an eclectic point of view, the UCP team develops pioneering and award-winning scripted and documentary programming. The studio is responsible for critically acclaimed series including "Battlestar Galactica," "Mr. Robot," "The Act," "Monk," "Homecoming," "The Sinner," "Suits," "Dirty John," "The Umbrella Academy" and "Psych." UCP also creates premium docuseries such as "Business of Drugs" and the upcoming "A Wilderness of Error." The studio's podcast platform, UCP Audio, produces original podcasts such as "The Lost Kids," while its comic book extension, UCP Graphic, develops and publishes original creator-owned comic books including the upcoming "Proctor Valley Road." Logo can be found here.
About Fuzzy Door: Led by writer, producer and director Seth MacFarlane and President, Erica Huggins, Fuzzy Door is the production company behind many of today's most successful television and film projects. Currently, the company produces the Hulu space adventure series, "The Orville," the beloved and Emmy award-winning animated comedy series, "Family Guy," which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, and the fan-favorite series, "American Dad!," airing its 300th episode this Fall. Fuzzy Door strategically built on the success of the 1980's "Cosmos" series by producing the award-winning "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey," which garnered 13 Emmy nominations and became a global event seen by more than 135 million people, and the most recent installment, "Cosmos: Possible Worlds," making its broadcast debut on September 22 on Fox. Earlier this year, MacFarlane and Fuzzy Door signed an impressive, multi-year, television deal with Universal Studio Group. First in development under the pact is "The Winds of War," a limited series from UCP based on Pulitzer Prize winner Herman Wouk's acclaimed American War novels. On the film side, Fuzzy Door has created a number of commercially successful comedies such as TED, TED 2 and A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST, which have collectively grossed more than $800 million at the worldwide box office. Up next, Fuzzy Door is releasing BOOKS OF BLOOD, the feature film based on Clive Barker's influential and acclaimed horror anthology book of the same name, for Hulu on October 7, and the company is in development on Universal's female ensemble comedy FAIRY TALE ENDING. Fuzzy Door is committed to weaving a socially conscious and intellectually curious thread through projects to bring fearless, innovative and bold stories to life while maintaining its trademark sense of humor and wonder. Logo can be found here.
MacFarlane is represented by Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein and manager Joy Fehily. Marell, Greenberg and Micucci are repped by Shadi Bakhtiari.
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