In a competitive situation, Screen Gems has acquired the rights to an untitled comedy, which is set to star London Hughes with Cat Wilkins penning script and Tim Story directing. Todd Garner and Spencer Walken are producing on behalf of Broken Road. Hughes will exec produce
The film follows a woman who is transported to 19th century England where she becomes entangled in and upends the love affairs of the community with her modern sensibilities.
Hughes made history as the first British Black woman to be nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy “Best Show” Award for her show To Catch a D*ck, which was released on Netflix in December 2020 as her debut comedy special. In 2020, she was awarded the Royal Television Society Award for “Best Entertainment Performance” for her work on ITV2’s hip-hop comedy quiz show Don’t Hate The Playaz. In 2021, she hosted The Netflix Afterparty, a first-of-its-kind weekly comedy after-show alongside Fortune Feimster and David Spade, and she starred in the Netflix hit History of Swear Words. Hughes has also appeared in the BBC/Amazon award-winning and critically acclaimed series Fleabag. Will Packer Productions is currently developing the comedy feature, Hot Mess, for her to star.
Story, best known for directing such pics as Ride Along 2 and the Think Like A Man series, most recently directed Tom & Jerry for Warner Bros. On the television side, Story executive produced ABC’s critically-acclaimed hit drama TV series Queens. He has also executive produced Netflix’s Prince Of Peoria and Showtime’s White Famous.
Wilkins’ feature comedy Two-Faced won first place in the category at the 2020 UCLA Screenwriters Showcase and was #4 on the Black List for 2020. The project is currently set up at BRON Studios with Taraji P. Henson starring and directing, and Tim Story producing.
Garner is the founder and head of Broken Road Productions. His Broken Road credits include the hit films Mortal Kombat, Vacation Friends, Paul Blart: Mall Cop and its sequel, Knight and Day, Zookeeper, Into The Storm and many more. Next up, he will produce Senior Year starring Rebel Wilson for Netflix.
Hughes is represented by UTA, Curtis Brown, Haven Entertainment and attorneys Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Story is represented by UTA and attorneys Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Wilkins is represented by UTA, Echo Lake Entertainment and attorneys Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
Source: Deadline
