Kerry Washington will produce and star in the upcoming biopic Rockaway which has been picked up by Netflix. The film is based on Diane Cardwell’s memoir, Rockaway: Surfing Headlong Into a New Life.
Published in July 2020, Rockaway: Surfing Headlong Into a New Life tells the story of the journalist’s reinvention of self as she discovered the world of surfing. The screenplay for the film adaptation will be written by NAACP Image Award winner Nichelle Tramble Spellman, creator of Truth Be Told. The film will be produced by Liza Chasin’s 3dot Productions, Kerry Washington’s Simpson Street, and Aevitas Entertainment, with Cardwell herself set as executive producer.
According to the film’s synopsis, “Washington will play Manhattan-based journalist Cardwell who unexpectedly discovers the transcendent power of surfing while on a routine assignment, and finds herself running from the comfortable life she’s always known toward a life of romance and self-discovery in eclectic Rockaway Beach.”
Washington’s good fortune continued this week as Disney Branded Television announced that it has put into development From The Desk Of Zoe Washington, an original movie based on Janae Marks’ critically acclaimed book, executive produced by Kerry Washington’s Simpson Street Productions and Gamechanger Films.
From the Desk of Zoe Washington centers around middle-schooler and aspiring pastry chef Zoe, who sets her sights auditioning as a contestant on Food Network’s “Kids Bake Challenge” the summer before seventh grade. One day, Zoe receives a letter from her father, Marcus, who was sent to prison right before she was born. Because Zoe’s mom has never wanted her to have a relationship with Marcus, Zoe keeps the letter a secret.
Zoe and her father soon begin corresponding regularly and Marcus shares his favorite songs with her and is supportive of her baking-competition dreams. When Marcus proclaims his innocence, Zoe is shocked: How could someone innocent end up in prison? With the help of her grandmother and her friend Trevor, Zoe begins to learn about systemic racism and how Marcus may have found himself unjustly imprisoned and embarks on a quest to set her biological father free.
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