WILMINGTON –– Another film project is making arrangements to roll in the Wilmington area soon.
“Our Kind of People” is in town preparing for production, according to the Wilmington Regional Film Commission website. Although the commission could not confirm more than the title, multiple entertainment news outlets reported Fox Entertainment is working on a drama TV series inspired by Lawrence Otis Graham’s bestselling book “Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class.”
This will be the second Fox show to film in the Cape Fear in recent years. The docu-com “This Country” wrapped in March.
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The project would call for coastal settings, as the story takes place in Oak Bluffs, a vacation community on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. It is often referred to as “the Black Hamptons.”
The series follows single mom Angela Vaughn as she sets out on making an impact with her haircare business, promoting the natural beauty of Black women. Vaughn is working to “reclaim her family’s name” when she soon uncovers a dark secret from her mother’s past that threatens to shake her world.
According to Deadline, Karin Gist, of ABC’s “Mixed-ish” and the Fox drama “Star,” is serving as the writer and executive producer alongside Lee Daniels, who also worked on “Star” as well as the hit “Empire” – another Fox show about wealthy Black Americans.
“‘Our Kind of People’ is a soapy, thrilling exploration of race and class in America and an unapologetic celebration of black resilience and achievement – all daringly told by a team we’ve been eager to get back in business with,” Michael Thorn, president at Fox Entertainment, said in a March 2021 statement. “There are no better storytellers than Karin Gist and Lee Daniels to bring Lawrence Otis Graham’s seminal work to life.”
“Our Kind of People” is the first Black-centric film production to come to Wilmington since “The Sin Seer” in 2015.
Deadline reported the project is being developed under a “straight-to-series” model, meaning Fox is bypassing the pilot. The show has been in the making since at least 2017, when Variety reported that Fox ordered a writer’s room to pen a script based on Otis Graham’s exploration of race and class. The nonfiction book, published in 1999, is the end result of six years of interviews with the nation’s most prominent Black families.
“Our Kind of People” joins Netflix’s “Along for the Ride” as one of the two productions currently in Wilmington.
“George & Tammy,” a TV series based on the real-life tumultuous relationship of the iconic country music power couple, is no longer listed in pre-production by the film office, despite appearing on the site two weeks ago. It is not immediately clear whether the show is returning to Wilmington or has passed on its plans to shoot here.
Film news? Email alexandria@localdailymedia.com.
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