“Dear White People” producer Effie Brown has lined up her next project. She’s set to produce Melissa V. Murray’s feature directorial debut, “We Real Cool.” AGC Studios will finance and co-produce the action comedy, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. Leah Natasha Thomas (“America Divided”) is producing alongside Brown.
The story centers on a trio of friends from Harlem — Summer, Jordan, and Aurora. The college-bound girls get in over their heads at a wild party in Brooklyn. “After being falsely implicated in a murder and with every neighborhood goon looking to cash in on the bounty on their heads, the three — with no phones, no money, and no functioning public transport in sight — have to battle their way out of the neighborhood and get back home,” the source summarizes.
“We Real Cool” is slated to go into production early next year. Casting is underway.
A graduate of the Ghetto Film School and a Sundance Ignite Fellow alum, Murray penned the script for “We Real Cool.” Her shorts include “She” and “R.A.G.E.”
“So many people talk a good game about inclusion and hiring women but rarely do they really follow through,” said Brown in a statement. “Stuart Ford and AGC did just that. In fact he doubled down — not only are they giving a talented first time queer black female director her break by financing her film, but AGC are also committed to leveling the Hollywood playing filed by supporting an all-black female producing team. This is how you make meaningful change in the industry,” she emphasized. “We can’t wait to get started.”
AGC Studios is also behind an upcoming biopic about Lauren Simmons, the youngest woman in the history of the New York Stock Exchange and the second black woman to work there as a full-time trader. “Transparent” actress Kiersey Clemons will star in the untitled project.
