“Insecure” actress-writer-producer Natasha Rothwell and “Snowfall” writer Aziza Barnes are teaming up on an adaptation of Ibi Zoboi’s YA novel “Pride.” According to Deadline, the duo are developing the project for HBO. Both will executive produce, and Barnes is writing.
Published in December, the book is a modern, magical realistic reimagining of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and centers on Zuri Benitez, who has “pride, Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable,” the source describes. “When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding. But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.”
Alloy Entertainment will produce the adaptation in association with Warner Bros. Television. Alloy’s Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo will exec produce.
Rothwell received an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy nomination for exec producing “Insecure.” She also portrays Kelli on the HBO show. Her other on-screen credits include the upcoming “Wonder Woman 1984,” “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” and “Love, Victor.” Next, she’s collaborating with Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer on animated comedy “Malltown” and co-writing Netflix feature “Hometown” with Paula Pell and Michelle Lawler.
Barnes has written for “Teenage Bounty Hunters” and is also a playwright and poet. Their first play, “BLKS,” has been staged at Steppenwolf Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theater, and MCC Theater, and their poetry collections include “the blind pig” and “i be but i ain’t.”
Zoboi is also the author of “Punching the Air” and “American Street.” The former was co-written by Exonerated Five member Yusef Salaam, and the latter was a National Book Award finalist.
