R&B group New Edition will get BET miniseries treatment with a TV movie to premiere in 2016, the network announced on Monday. The series will be the first music-focused scripted movie to air on the cable network.
New Edition first hit success as a five-member boy band in the 1980s with songs like “Candy Girl,” until Bobby Brown left after two years to pursue a solo career.
Johnny Gill soon joined the other original members Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe, Ralph Tresvant,all of whom have signed on as co-producers of the BET movie.
New Edition’s longtime manager Brooke Payne will also serve as a co-producer. The untitled film, which has yet to get a director, is slated to begin shooting in early 2016 with a script by “Lottery Ticket” writer Abdul Williams.
“New Edition’s music is woven into the fabric of our culture,” executive producer Jesse Collins said. “When I brought the idea to BET years ago, I wanted to create a film that would tell the story of how New Edition emerged into one of the most important groups of its generation.”
“It’s been a long time coming and that time is finally here!” the group said in a statement. “Now that we have signed the deal, New Edition’s journey will be captured in a three night miniseries to tell our life story through our very own eyes. We are happy to have New Edition Enterprises collaborate with BET Networks’ Debra Lee and Stephen Hill along with Jesse Collins Entertainment. From our beginning in the Orchard Park Projects in Boston to Hollywood and everything in between, just like The Temptations and The Jackson Five — we are ready to retrace our footsteps and show everyone how we got here. For the fans all over the world, this one’s for you.”
BET Networks President of Programming Stephen Hill said he’s “ecstatic” to bring the New Edition saga to screen.
“Personally, my relationship with New Edition goes back to being among the first to play ‘Candy Girl’ on my college radio station,” Hill said in a statement. “Everyone’s been waiting for the New Edition saga to be told in all its triumphs and heartbreaks, and we can’t wait to bring it to the screen.”
Collins is an executive producer of “Real Husbands of Hollywood” and will also produce the 2015 Soul Train Awards for CENTRIC.
New Edition Enterprises was established in 2006 and is a global entertainment company that includes touring, music, television, apparel and now film.