Selma co-star and producer Oprah Winfrey has teamed with the film’s director Ava DuVernay to create a new original drama 
series for OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. Inspired by the novel “Queen Sugar,” DuVernay is set to write, direct and executive produce the project in her TV series debut. Winfrey will executive produce and have a recurring role on the show, marking the first time Winfrey will act in a series for her network. Filming is scheduled to begin later this year.
Adapted from the first-time novel “Queen Sugar” by Natalie Baszile, the contemporary series will chronicle a spirited woman who leaves her upscale Los Angeles lifestyle behind to claim an inheritance from her recently departed father – an 800-acre sugar cane farm in the heart of Louisiana. Her world and identity are turned upside down as she and her teenage daughter attempt to navigate a new and very different environment while rebuilding their farm from scratch. She is met with curiosity and community, with resistance and romance. It isn’t long before a transformation begins and she realizes that she’s been living a lot farther from her Southern roots than mere miles.
“I loved this book and immediately saw it as a series for OWN,” said Oprah Winfrey. “The story’s themes of reinventing your life, parenting alone, family connections and conflicts, and building new relationships are what I believe will connect our viewers to this show.”
“From the moment I was introduced to the book, I was captivated by the idea of a modern woman wrestling with identity, family, culture and the echoes of history,” said DuVernay. “To bring this kind of storytelling to life alongside Oprah for her network is wildly wonderful.”
OWN entered scripted programming through a multi-year exclusive deal with prolific filmmaker Tyler Perry. This marks OWN’s first scripted series that does not come from Perry whose soap The Haves and and Have Nots has been setting ratings records for the network.
DuVernay directed the Academy Award nominated feature Selma, which chronicles the historic 1965 voting rights campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The film was produced by Oprah Winfrey, Plan B, Christian Colson and Pathé. Winfrey also has a supporting role in the film portraying civil rights protestor Annie Lee Cooper.
DuVernay is the first African-American woman nominated for Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards for Best Director for Selma, in addition to Independent Spirit and NAACP Image Award nominations. She won the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 for Middle of Nowhere. Prior to her directorial career, DuVernay worked as a film marketer and publicist for more than 14 years.
It’s rather racist that Oprah’s programming is mostly black. And, it looks as if this director is now Oprah’s favorite ‘one man band’. I am offended….Where’s the diversity? Or, does diversity only apply to people who aren’t black.
I regret ever supporting Oprah in the past. That mistake will never happen again. Bias is bias — period.
The beauty of America is Oprah is a self-made businesswoman who can program whatever the hell she wants to and the audience/market decides if they will watch. A drama about black southerners that’s not just about racism is interesting.
It’s amazing how no matter what the subject every single story of some black person achieving anything is met with people like you feeling threatened for some reason. Seriously, dude. Get some help.
Seriously, it’s so disheartening. I try to tell myself they’re all trolls, but I know many of them really feel this way. No one thinks twice when I white producer teams up with a white director to make a project starring a white person. Also, how do we know that this story doesn’t have any diverse characters in it? This seems like an exciting project, and I’m interested to see how this all plays out.
Are you kidding me? Are we living in the same world? Have you watched television and gone to the movies lately? It’s all white-washed! The Hollywood Reporter wrote an article on the top 50 television Showrunners of 2014. Only 5 out of 50 were Black. Sundance, one of the so-called top film festival in the United States awarded a Black woman “best director” for the first time ever in 2012 – for the first time every since they founded in 1981 – Really? And you want to call Oprah’s programming “racist”! Did you know the people voting for Oscars trophy’s are majority white 63 year old males? The next time you complain about the lack of diversity on OWN, put your whiteness aside, step out of yourself and turn on the television. It does not matter what network, turn it on and look at the so-called diversity you speak of including the commercials and the nightly news. You my friend will see television and film is not so diverse at all. It is pure white! #Peace #Light
Why do you assume the OP is white?
Thank you, Name Withheld. I am, in fact, bi-racial. I understand, and respect, both cultures in which I was raised. My mother grew up in ‘the projects’ and understood hate. She taught us to believe in ourselves, but most importantly — she stressed that the INTEGRATION of cultures would be the only way that our society could grow in peace and love. As she always has told me, anything else is dangerous, not prideful, but segregating. After the recent celebrations for MLK Day, I wonder how Dr. King would feel about separate but equal entertainment companies, etc…..
As I stated — bias is bias. It may feel ‘good’, initially, but it’s a crutch that will continue to segregate people.
~Peace and love
@Name withheld LOL. Whiteness is a state of mind. @Anon8745 “Integration of cultures would be the only way that our society could grow in peace and love.” Really? LMAO!! You probably haven’t traveled much outside the states particularly throughout Europe but I digress. “My mother grew up in ‘the projects’ and understood hate’. smh Peace and LIGHT to you
You don’t need Oprah to give you representation on own. You need her to build an American wing of her academy, so students won’t come out as dumb as you did on matters of race. Thank her for Nate Berkus, Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and every other white guru who she pimped. Then get over yourself.
I would like to ask Anon8745 whether they have ever been offended enough to chastise a non-black TV/media mogul for their programming choices when black people have been under or misrepresented? For years, I have watched programmes and advertising that do not represent the cultural mix of society (whatever the mix) and wonder why, when black or non-white people ARE shown, they are portrayed in negative, derogatory, stereotypical, substandard or derogatory roles or life situations. I doubt you can argue this point as it is FACT. Yes, there are a few shows that are breaking the mould of late but this is the exception rather than the norm. Advertising follows this trend also.
Oprah’s choice to schedule certain types of shows on her network goes some way to addressing the issue for people of colour who look at the TV and see few characters who look or act like them. She does NOT discriminate by only showing ‘black’ shows but she ensures that this kind of programming is accessible to those who want it. NOTE: I said those who WANT it. Your argument is like saying “why do channels who primarily cater to gay people show programmes that lean towards that demographic?” If you don’t want to watch, choose one of the other channels out there that cater to your taste; just don’t chastise someone for trying to address blatant omissions in TV programming as her actions are a drop in the ocean when considered in reverse.
Not enough movies and TV shows out there with white ensemble casts, helmed by white directors for you?
No one who ever truly “supported Oprah in the past” would utter something so ridiculous. If you had ever watched the breadth of programming on OWN you’d already know that, in spite of a few clunkers, OWN presents an interesting mix of quality programs covering a far greater variety of people than most everything on both network and cable television.
But it’s not racist when just about every other network not abjectly aimed toward blacks has been doing the same thing for decades. Come the fuck on.
Your angry post indicates that you resent the fact that Oprah has programming that features black actors in leading roles even while those same shows have whites and Hispanics in leading and supporting roles, too.
Clearly, you don’t seem to care about facts. All of Oprah’s scripted shows have diverse casts! The Have and Have Nots is a soap opera whose leading male actor is blond & blue-eyed John Schneider, from The Dukes of Hazard! Her other soap opera features Eddie Cibrian, a white Latino actor. That soap features whites, blacks, and Latinos.
You have no idea what the cast of Queen of Sugar will look like other than two leads will be African-American women. With a story set in Louisiana, common sense says that it will feature a diverse cast.
Anon8745, you are calling into question a business that you have no problem with when it’s non-black hiring non-black.
Congratulations, not only have you shown you have absolutely no idea what “diversity” means, you have also just perfectly demonstrated “white privilege”, for those who don’t know what it is.
@mark
I’m not white. Thank you.
Why is this racist? It’s just drama from a book that happen to be black. Which should be good because there aren’t that many if any dramas like that.
Have you read the book? It’s actually quite good and has a racially diverse group of characters. The story is compelling and for once not a “woe is me” stereotype. Sounds like your argument is personal.
So what do you say about the TRUE FACTS THAT TV WAS ALWAYS WHITES and when I was growing up there was nobody that I could identify with so please check the FACTS!!!
al sharpton is the show runner.
Meanwhile you’re running to the Internet to impress your Klan chapter.
But where’s the diversity?
Start by asking Nate Berkus, Dr. Phil, Rachel Ray and Dr. Oz.
Hey, craziness – All of those WHITE people were rich, powerful, and very successful BEFORE Oprah decided to make money off of them. Fact.
So, STFU idiot. She knows where the money is! As it’s been stated, it’s just business. She sucks money outta white folks, whites suck money outta black folks — it’s the circle of life in a market economy! God bless capitalism. 💲💲💲💲
Oprah is a racist, she says all white Americans are racist, the FlOTUS said it as well. She uses it as , not just a rallying cry for other victim mentalities, but for the racist terrorism they employ to get what they ‘want’. These are all about power and money grabs. She can make the movies she wants to. I hope someone makes they movies about their experiences with blacks , all black businesses, riots, and the rest , as well. Expose this rhetoric and racist lies and rants, the character assasinations of all the whites that have helped and helped and helped and paid and paid and paid , for centuries, only to get treated like white trash from this racist .
Really? That’s odd considering that Oprah is know for hiring and promoting white women executives. It’s also strange considering that Oprah’s network features diverse casts.
Elena,
I would presume that she seeks out the most qualified individuals who can offer the most to her brand. It’s just business. I suppose that she has found those qualities in Caucasian women. Her brand has grown quite well, so one might speculate that her choices were correct.
If Oprah & FLOTUS ever uttered something close to that mental diarrhea of yours, just prove it. Prove it or sit in a corner with the world’s biggest dunce cap on. You’re a rancid liar.
What’s that saying? Action speaks louder than words? Just sayin’.
Dope!!
I’m concerned that like Shondaland, the focus of this series is on the struggles of an upscale black woman. I don’t think there is adequate media representation of a more typical person’s experiences. If all a viewer is subjected to is constant images of success and wealth, they are likely to look around at their own life and wonder why they don’t measure up, and blame some evil unseen force.
Are you serious? If a viewer is looking to a silly television show to find self worth, validation or some kind of standard for living, that individual has far more problems than what’s projected on screen.
Will they whine if they don’t win an Emmy?
Will be interesting to see if it floats
Oprah indeed has lost a huge number of fans, I think her backing Obama
and than never calling him out on his lies, really hurt her credibility
Than she went on a rant about white racist, that didn’t help her
I’M old enough to remember when she was the queen of daytime TV, that all seems so long ago now
it’s to make up and create balance of all of the other networks that are mostly white!… get it?
Ironheaded,
Two wrongs don’t make a right. English is my second language so I hope this makes sense: I’ve never seen a situation where a centuries wrong policy of racist discrimination was solved by creating another racist environment. It may make people feel better, initially, but the repercussions last for decades. Integration is the only way to bring people together….not separate, but equal. Because, separate IS NOT equal.
Thank you.
To paraphrase the title of the Doug Wright play, uh, “I Am My Own Marion Davies”… at least I was in love and obsessed with somebody other than myself and my self-appointed role as “messenger”.
Congradulations Ava DuVernay for getting such an interesting and
challenging job. All the best, and Bravo Oprah.
To Anon8745. Oprah cannot be a racist. Racism is an institutionalized culture. She only has one network out of many. Why is that when Oprah wants to make a movie for an about an African American woman she has to be racist. She doesn’t hate white people she loves herself and her race. What is wrong with that. Oprah is a woman who wants to bring diversity to television. I watched Oprah on ABC television for over 25 years and most of her audiences and the people that she propelled to higher heights (Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Nate Berkus) are all W-H-I-T-E, with the exception of Iyanla. What sickens me about people with attitudes like yours is that you feel that you MADE Oprah and are therefore entitled to servitude from her for the rest of her and your life. I applaud her for what she’s doing. I take it that you haven’t read the book. The tag line says the main charact she’s an upscale African American woman, when in fact her parents are, but at the moment she is a widowed mother who really is struggling.