Gabrielle Union and Freida Pinto are joining forces to bring Tanisha C. Ford’s memoir, “Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion,” to television. According to Variety, Union and Pinto are developing the book into a series via their respective I’ll Have Another and Freebird Films Entertainment companies.
Both I’ll Have Another and Freebird are dedicated to sharing “authentic and uplifting stories” centering women and people of color, stories that too often are overlooked.
Published in 2019, “Dressed in Dreams” sees author and cultural critic Ford using “fashion as a through-line for time and identity — afros and dashikis, go-go boots, and hotpants of the ’60s, hip hop’s baggy jeans and bamboo earrings, and the #BlackLivesMatter-inspired hoodies of today,” the source describes. “These symbolic garments also represent her own life, as a Black girl coming of age in a Midwestern rust belt city.”
The project is being developed as part of Union’s first-look deal with Sony Pictures Television. I’ll Have Another’s Holly Shakoor Fleischer and Freebird’s Emily Verellen Strom will oversee.
“I am so excited to have my book in the hands of these incredibly talented women. Gabrielle and Freida have been such champions of my work and I am so ready for the next step in this journey of the power of fashion,” Ford said.
Union and Pinto added, “Tanisha’s memoir brought up so much for each of us being women of color. Fashion is such a huge part of one’s self-expression and to this day plays a major part of how we each operate in our daily lives. For us, growing up with such unique and specifically cultural pieces of fashion helped shape our lives and we think it can be the driving force that tells the story of what it means to grow up being a proud woman of color. We have been friends for a long time and we couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity to develop something alongside a force as brilliant, funny, and fierce as Tanisha Ford.”
Union recently signed on to topline and produce “The Perfect Find,” a Netflix rom-com from “Jezebel” filmmaker Numa Perrier. I’ll Have Another has optioned TV rights to LGBTQ activist George M. Johnson’s bestselling memoir “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” and is developing the series with Sony Pictures TV. “L.A.’s Finest,” “Being Mary Jane,” and “Breaking In” are among Union’s acting and producing credits. She also served as associate producer on the Oscar-winning short “Hair Love.”
The industry vet has made headlines lately speaking out about the racism and toxic workplace she encountered while appearing as a judge on “America’s Got Talent.” She was fired from the show, and has since launched discrimination action against Simon Cowell and Fremantle.
Pinto broke out in 2008 with the Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire.” Her more recent credits include “The Path” and “Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle.” She is producing a limited series about U.S. Marine Anuradha Bhagwati in which she’ll also star. She appeared in Emma Holly Jones’ short period rom-com “Mr. Malcolm’s List,” and is set to act in the upcoming feature-length version as well. You can catch Pinto next in “Hillbilly Elegy,” an adaptation of J.D. Vance’s book penned by “The Shape of Water’s” Vanessa Taylor.
Ford previously wrote “Liberated Threads: Black Women Style, and the Global Politics of Soul” and co-authored “Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful.” She has penned pieces for The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Elle, among other outlets. Next, she’s working on a book tentatively titled “The Glamorous Life: Socialite-Activists and the Black Freedom Struggle from World War II to the Age of Obama.”
