Popular writer and New York Times bestselling novelist Colson Whitehead’s 2009 novel Sag Harbor is being adapted into an HBO series.
Boat Rocker Studios has put the project in production with Daniel “Koa” Beaty attached to write the pilot.
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Set in 1985, Sag Harbor follows Benji Cooper, one of few Black students at his prestigious prep school in Manhattan. Every summer, Benji escapes to the Hamptons, to Sag Harbor, where a small community of African American professionals have built a world of their own. There, affluent African Americans carve out their own space on Long Island, and Benji experiences race and class in a different way.
Laurence Fishburne and Helen Sugland of Cinema Gypsy Productions are set as executive producers for what promises to be a new masterpiece highlighting diverse voices from all walks of life on screen at HBO Max.
“Colson is a once-in-a-generation author who has the unique ability to craft beautiful and authentic stories that captivate and transform readers and Sag Harbor is a true expression of that gift,” said Katie O’Connell Marsh, Vice-Chair, Boat Rocker Studios. “We’re thrilled to be working with HBO Max, Cinema Gypsy, and Koa to bring this coming-of-age story to the screen.”
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Koa and Whitehead will executive produce alongside Katie O’Connell Marsh for Boat Rocker, and Fishburne and Sugland for Cinema Gypsy Productions.
“I’m honored to partner with this wonderful team, and to adapt Colson’s beautiful book,” said Beaty. “It’s a world and family rarely seen on screen, and that’s thrilling during these transformational times.”
Whitehead is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Underground Railroad.