EXCLUSIVE: Gabrielle Union’s I’ll Have Another Productions and Katie and Mauricio Mota’s Wise Entertainment have optioned Tamara Winfrey-Harris’ award-winning book The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women In America to develop as a 30-minute dramedy for television. Writer and former Wise development executive Sonja Perryman is attached to pen the series adaptation.

The Sisters Are Alright dramedy follows the real lives of three childhood best friends whose worlds are turned upside down after they agree to be part of a reality series called Sistas In the City. The idea is to explore the duality of the women striving to make their dreams come true while surviving the brutal world of reality TV. It is too early to say whether Union might also act in the project.

“I have always been a fan of Tamara’s book and Sonja has taken the genius of that book and created a juicy world with such rich, multi-faceted Black women. This is a series that says something loudly but through such a fun lens. This is a world that offers endless story opportunities and we can’t wait to tell them,” Union said. “I’ll Have Another and Wise Entertainment share similar mandates when it comes to their dedication to creating content for underserved and underrepresented audiences. Both are committed to growing creatives of color and developing meaningful stories that connect to today’s audience.”

Described by the Washington Post as “a myth busting portrait of Black women in America,” The Sisters Are Alright peels back the stereotypes and biased generalizations of how Black women are often portrayed and explores intersectional feminism in a raw and honest way. The Sisters Are Alright explores areas such as marriage, motherhood, health, sexuality and beauty with real life stories by real Black women who are living their everyday lives defying the distorted caricature of themselves brought on by centuries of stereotypes.

“After reading Tamera’s book, I was inspired to create a show that examines the suffocating and often dangerous stereotypes that Black women have been up against for centuries, and I thought reality TV would be the perfect metaphor to do so,” said Perryman. “Our show addresses these issues in a fun and entertaining way, while always centering sisterhood — a powerful refuge for so many Black women, myself included.”

Union’s I’ll Have Another is currently in development on six series with buyers ranging from Apple to Showtime. Union is currently in production on the Netflix romantic comedy The Perfect Find, after recently wrapping on the 20th Century Fox family comedy Cheaper By The Dozen, both of which she’s producing through I’ll Have Another Productions. Union is repped by CAA, Range Media and attorney Patti Felker of Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson.

“Gabrielle is a culture shifting, multi-hyphenate that we have always admired and we could we not be more thrilled to be working with her and her company I’ll Have Another on this fun, poignant show created by writer/producer Sonja Perryman when she was a development executive at Wise” said the Motas. “When we read Tamara’s powerful book, we knew we had to find a way to bring her book to TV and are honored to be working with this amazing team to do it”

Wise Entertainment has shows and movies under development with Amazon Studios, Imagine Entertainment, HBO Max and Netflix. Wise is repped by CAA and attorney Abel Lezcano of DSMTFL.

Harris also is the author of Dear Black Girl: Letters From Your Sisters on Stepping Into Your Power, which was released in March.

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