Common Set To Produce Black Coming-Of-Age Drama For Showtime

Common will be flexing his producer chops with a scripted drama.

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Common has been acting for a while at this point, but now he’s starting to get his feet wet behind the scenes too. According to reports, Showtime picked up an untitled drama from Common, who will be producing a scripted drama for the first, and Lena Waithe, who is one of the producers of Dear White People.

The show will be a coming-of-age drama that will explore the life of a young African-American male, in which simply growing up can be a matter of life and death. Waithe will write the script and executive produce the Fox 21 drama along with Common.

“The two creative forces behind the show, both hailing from Chicago’s South Side, give this pilot an unparalleled authenticity. Lena Waithe is an extremely fresh, talented young writer with a unique voice and a deeply thoughtful perspective into the world where she grew up. I immediately gravitated to her script, which is emotional, funny, tragic and relevant, all at once. And, we are so fortunate to have artist and visionary Common for his first producing project in scripted television,” said Showtime president David Nelson in a statement.

I get the feeling that this story will be loosely based on Common’s own life growing up in Chicago. It’s cool that cable networks are starting to get more on board with diversity in TV programming.

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