Ava DuVernay has created narrative TV shows that delve into family (“Queen Sugar”), romance (“Cherish the Day”), and real-life tragedy (“When They See Us”) — and now, the multi-hyphenate is shifting her focus to unscripted television. According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC has given a 10-episode order to DuVernay’s “social experiment,” “Home Sweet Home.” The Emmy winner created and will executive produce the show.
Each episode of “Home Sweet Home” will see two families from very different backgrounds swapping households. “It will chronicle the fierce curiosity and sense of adventure it takes to walk a mile in another person’s shoes by challenging racial, religious, economic, geographic, gender, and identity assumptions,” THR details.
The project hails from DuVernay’s Array Filmworks and Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. DuVernay is under an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television.
Array’s Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes will also exec produce.
“The idea for ‘Home Sweet Home’ came to me during the strange and important times we’re all experiencing. The premise is that we are farther apart than ever, yet bound by what we have in common — concerns with health, safety, justice, and community,” DuVernay explained. “These notions manifest in each of us in different ways, but nowhere more striking than in the privacy of our own homes. I’m thrilled that NBC and Warner Horizon embraced the challenge of this moment to celebrate the specificity of our differences as we discover the many beautiful things that we have in common.”
“We are honored to partner with Ava for the first time to bring ‘Home Sweet Home’ to life at NBC,” said NBC Alternative and Reality Group president Meredith Ahr. “Led by Ava’s powerful and hopeful creative vision, these stories will reveal genuine moments of change that we hope will spark thought-provoking conversations and encourage compassion, empathy, and understanding.”
DuVernay was recently elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board Of Governors. She received an Oscar nomination and Emmy Award for “13th,” a documentary tracing the direct links between slavery and mass incarceration. “When They See Us,” the Exonerated Five miniseries she created and directed, won a Peabody.
Among the projects on DuVernay’s packed slate are a series about Colin Kaepernick’s life, an animated TV project based on the “Wings of Fire” books, and a series adaptation of Octavia Butler’s “Dawn.” She became the first woman of color to helm a $100 million-plus live-action film with 2018’s “A Wrinkle in Time.” DuVernay’s other features include “Selma” and “Middle of Nowhere.”
