Audiobook ‘Rifts And Refrains’ From Co-Authors Tiye & Keisha Mennefee To Be Adapted For TV By Universal Television And Attica Locke & Tembi Locke
EXCLUSIVE: Tiye and Keisha Mennefee’s audiobook Rifts and Refrains from the latter’s Honey Magnolia Media is being adapted for TV by Attica Locke and Tembi Locke for Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Rifts and Refrains centers on an aspiring Black female writer and musician who discovers a hidden legacy of love, betrayal and music in her estranged grandfather’s past, leading her on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected romance in the heart of Nashville’s country music scene and Memphis, the home of the blues.
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“We grew up listening to Charley Pride and Muddy Waters in our grandmother’s house in Texas, and have playlists full of Rhiannon Giddens, Mickey Guyton, Yola, and Brittany Spencer. We know the twin sounds of blues and country and could not be more excited to explore a story that highlights the crosscurrents of these two sounds and cultural institutions in American life. As always for us, love and family are the vehicles through which we tell stories that touch on larger themes of connection, stories that bring us closer together,” said the Lockes in a joint statement.
The Locke sisters will also co-showrun and executive produce via their overall deal with the studio. Bestselling author Kennedy Ryan (Before I Let Go) and Mennefee also executive produce. Universal Studio Group’s Creative Acquisitions and IP Management team was instrumental in securing the rights to the book.
“After witnessing the impactful conversations that followed Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, we felt a strong need to contribute to these discussions the best way we know how —through the art of storytelling. It was important to work together to share this story and its characters to represent the many legacies still alive within our veins, to celebrate our cultural diversity, and to create a love letter to our contributions as Black people—in both love and country music,” shared Tiye and Keisha Mennefee.
Attica and Tembi Locke co-created and executive produced the Netflix limited series From Scratch, based on Tembi Locke’s New York Times bestselling memoir. Through their overall deal with Universal Television, they are also adapting Attica’s Bluebird, Bluebird and Jasmine Guillory’s Drunk on Love.
Attica Locke is a New York Times bestselling author of five novels, as well as a TV writer-producer whose credits include Fox’s Empire, Netflix’s When They See Us and Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere, for which she won an NAACP Image Award. Tembi Locke is a writer, producer, podcast host and actor whose early credits include The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Friends.
Attica Locke is represented by WME, 3 Arts Entertainment, Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg. Tembi Locke is represented by WME, 3 Arts Entertainment and Yorn Levine Barnes Krintzman.
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