Sandra Bullock‘s college experience is the inspiration for a dramedy series set in the world of music and dance, which is in the works at Amazon. Bullock is executive producing the project with fellow Oscar winners Akiva Goldsman and John Legend executive produce the project.
Created and written by K.C. Perry (Constance) loosely inspired by Bullock’s college years, the show is described as a hilarious, boundary-crossing, and often soul-wrenching trek through the oppressive cultural norms of the deep south in the 1980s, where one darkly off-beat young woman defies expectations and sets out in search of love, community, and most importantly, an identity of her own. It’s a fantastical, dance-filled journey, traversing the worlds of drag-culture, mental health, and the AIDS epidemic, all while following a group of young outcasts who band together and dare to be themselves, despite the very real danger they face in doing so. It’s a vivid, fun, gut-punch of a story about letting go of shame and living out loud… and some of it’s even true.
Related Stories
Bullock attended East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where she received a BFA in Drama in 1987. While at ECU, she performed in multiple theater productions including Peter Pan and Three Sisters.
Watch on Deadline
The idea for the series sprung from conversations between longtime friends Bullock and Goldsman who had worked together on the features A Time To Kill and Practical Magic. They brought in Marja-Lewis Ryan (6 Balloons) to develop to it further. Ryan, who is busy with her duties as showrunner on Showtime’s L Word sequel, will be a consulting producer on the Amazon project.
Goldsman also enlisted his producing partners on WGN America’s Underground , Legend’s Get Lifted Film Co., to help develop the series and curate the show’s ambitious fusion of multiple genres of music from the period, including 80’s pop, timeless Southern gospel, and opera.
Bullock will executive produce via her Fortis Films; Goldsman and Greg Lessans via Weed Road, and Legend and Mike Jackson via Get Lifted.
Perry was a writer on the CW The Originals and most recently penned and executive produced the Constance pilot for TNT, which starred Elisabeth Shue. Perry was repped in the deal by attorney Eric Feig.