Up and coming director Mahalia Belo has booked her next gig. Deadline reports that the “Requiem” helmer has signed on to the BBC drama series “The Long Song.” Based on Andrea Levy’s historical novel of the same name, the project takes place during the last days of slavery in the Caribbean.
Sarah Williams (“Becoming Jane”) is writing the series, which centers on “a strong-willed young woman on a Jamaican sugar plantation who goes from being a slave to the mother of a gentleman.”
No word on casting or when “The Long Song” will officially begin production, but Deadline hints that filming could start later this year. Levy, Williams, and Rosie Alison (“Testament of Youth”) are among the series’ executive producers. Heyday Television is producing and NBC Universal International Distribution will handle distribution.
Belo took home a Breakthrough Talent BAFTA for directing TV movie “Ellen,” a portrait of an underprivileged teen girl and her best friend. In 2012 her short film “Volume” was named Best Short at the British Independent Film Awards. Belo also helmed the BBC/Netflix series “Requiem,” which follows a cellist as she investigates the connection between her mother’s suicide and the disappearance of a toddler 23 years before.
“I think people are scared of difference, particularly when a lot of money is involved,” Belo has said of the entertainment industry’s tendency to provide male directors with better opportunities than women. “And so people are safe and go with what has been done before, with people who look like the ones who did things before.”
