”How To Get Away With Murder” star Viola Davis is about to step behind the camera for her next project… another ABC drama, about another powerful female lawyer.
Davis and her producing partner Julius Tennon have teamed with producer Debra Martin Chase (“Sparkle”) for “Conviction,” a legal drama inspired by the life of Kym Worthy, the chief prosecutor of Wayne County, MI, known as the toughest woman in Detroit, reports Deadline.com.
Worthy became the second African-American to serve as a county prosecutor in Michigan when she was appointed as chief prosecutor of Wayne County in 2004. She is known for a number of high-profile cases, like filing charges against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and her campaign to clear a massive backlog of 11,000 unprocessed rape test kits in Detroit.
The script is being written by Jason Wilborn (“Damages”), with Jeff Melvoin (“Army Wives”) on board as show runner. Davis and Tennon are executive producing through their JuVee Productions, and Martin Chase through her Martin Chase Prods. ABC Studios, where Martin Chase Prods. has an overall deal, is the studio.
Also executive producing are Kim Swann and Leah Keith who brought Worthy’s story to Hollywood, and Melvoin, while Wilborn serves as co-executive producer and Martin Chase Prods.’ Charles Pugliese as producer. Worthy will serve as a consultant.
In addition to “Conviction,” Swann is developing several projects with Worthy as her producing partner. Keith is adapting her novel “A Rented Life” into a feature. At ABC and ABC Studios, Martin Chase Prods. also has a limited series in development based on the book Catherine The Great by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Massie with a script by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael Cristofer (“Gia”).
article via eurweb.com
Following the announcement that police officer Darren Wilson 
Running in their “Run For Justice” hoodies, the men garnered quite a following on Instagram. 
In November of 2013, Storycatchers received a NATIONAL ARTS & HUMANITIES YOUTH PROGRAM AWARD in recognition of its work with detained and incarcerated youth. Founder and Artistic Director Meade Palidofsky traveled to Washington DC to accept the award from First Lady Michelle Obama. The National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Awards are an initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH). The President’s Committee partners with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to administer the program.
Hot off the success of the faith-based hit Heaven Is for Real, producer T.D. Jakes has scooped up film rights to another inspirational tale, Carter Paysinger and Steve Fenton‘s Where a Man Stands: Two Different Worlds, an Impossible Situation, and the Unexpected Friendship That Changed Everything.
The memoir-style book centers on Paysinger, a black student from the wrong side of town who landed hard at the upscale, mostly white Beverly Hills High, and his friendship with Fenton, a Jewish kid with whom he had little in common. Years later, Paysinger became a coach, teacher and eventually the first African-American principal in the storied school’s 80-year history. That perch gave him the opportunity to team with Fenton to turn around the school and help the community that put him on the path to success.
Paysinger and Fenton collaborated on the book, which was published Nov. 4 by Howard Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
To see video of Paysinger’s story, click here.
The story, which sparked the interest of a number of production companies and studios, is playing well in the Hollywood orbit. In fact, Paysinger and Fenton started the Beverly Hills Athletic Alumni Association seven years ago and enlisted such industryites as Beverly Hills High alums Bob Gersh, Eric Tannenbaum (Two and a Half Men), Gary Newman (20th Century Fox Television), Alan Nierob (Rogers & Cowan) actor Corbin Bernsen, Brad Turell (Paradigm), entertainment attorneys David Weber and Darren Trattner, and manager Allen Fischer (Principato Young).
“When we announced the book deal, I received more inquiries on the movie rights than any other book I published,” Howard Books vp and publisher Jonathan Merkh said. “This is a story that is unique yet universal.”
Fenton and his wife, Leeza Gibbons, first connected with Jakes when they saw him give a sermon at the Potter’s House megachurch in Dallas. Jakes, whose recent producing credits include Black Nativity, enjoyed a breakout success with Heaven Is for Real, which was made for $12 million and earned $101 million worldwide.
“Where a Man Stands is about human connection, rising above seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and seeing beyond what lies beneath the surface,” Jakes said. “It’s an uplifting tale that demonstrates what is possible when we take a stand for what we believe in.”
Derrick Williams, executive vp at T.D. Jakes Films & Entertainment, is overseeing for the production company.
article by Tatiana Siegel via hollywoodreporter.com
Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of A Black American Millionaire by Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth Gardner Hines
