The hit coming-of-age web series “Brown Girls,” about queer women of color, could come to HBO thanks to a new development deal.
The news was first announced in an Elle Magazine interview with writer Fatimah Asghar and director Samantha Bailey. It was then confirmed on social media.
“Congrats too (sic) the whole cast & crew for the big screen pick up!” the series’ Instagram posted.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BU-HsvIj0f2/
According to Elle, the untitled show based on “Brown Girls” will be produced by 3Arts and MXN Entertainment.
The web series, which tells the story of two women of color as they deal with their identities and relationships in Chicago, premiered on OpenTV in February to great critical acclaim and fanfare from celebrities like Willow Smith.
The hype comes from the characters at the core of the series and how the show portrays them.
“It’s a story that folks hadn’t seen before, but is relatable,” Asghar said in the Elle interview. “Part of it is the lack of representation of many different races in Hollywood in general. And also part of it is the way these girls operate in the web series in terms of their races, their identities, their personalities, and their class background.”
Asghar tweeted out her gratitude on Twitter. “We got a long way to go to make this happen. But I’m so happy today & grateful for everyones (sic) support,” she wrote.
https://twitter.com/asgharthegrouch/status/871816641906171909
The two stressed in the interview that the series will have the same feel as the web show.
“The web series is a small, small slice into the potential of the show,” Asghar said. “I want [the TV show] to be very Chicago-focused and queer folks of color-focused. And to have women of color and queer people of color be the protagonists and the antagonists in their own story. That’s very important to me.”
This marks HBO’s third web series pickup, following Issa Rae’s “Insecure,” which was adapted from the YouTube series “Awkward Black Girl,” along with Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair’s “High Maintenance.”
There isn’t a timeline yet for when the series could premiere or when an official pickup could be announced, but in the words of the “Brown Girls” twitter, “stay tuned.”
Thank you to everyone who has watched and shared #BrownGirlsTV. From Vimeo to HBO, we could not have done this without you. Stay tuned.
— BrownGirls WebSeries (@BGWebSeries) June 5, 2017
HBO has not responded to requests for comment.
