Jay Z has recently signed a “first-look deal” with legendary film studio, The Weinstein Company. A singularly powerful meeting of the music and film industries, the confirmed collaboration has been followed by the announcement of their first projects together.
One of the most anticipated project to come from this deal will be an upcoming biopic about the comedian Richard Pryor, produced by Jay Z with TWC. The long-rumoured film is believed to be titled Is It Something I Said?, sharing its name with Pryor’s 1975 live album. Currently slated to be directed by Lee Daniels, production is due to begin in early 2017.
During a recent press conference, Jay Z and TWC announced that they will be producing Time; a docu-series for Spike TV about Kalief Browder. A young man from the Bronx, Browder was imprisoned at Rikers Island for three years following his arrest for allegedly stealing a backpack aged just 16. Browder tragically committed suicide just a couple of years following his release,. Having been placed in solitary confinement during his incarceration, his death sparked concerns over isolationist policies for juvenile offenders.
Jay Z will act as an executive producer for Time for TWC, and the six part series will be directed by Jenner Furst. At the press conference, Jay Z told how Browder’s story had come to his attention through an article in the New Yorker, and how he met with Browder shortly before he committed suicide. “He told me he was going to college,” Jay Z told reporters, “I wanted to give him words of encouragement.”
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