Southern Fried Filmworks Options Memoir ‘The Bald Mermaid’

EXCLUSIVE: Producer Trevite Willis and her production company Southern Fried Filmworks has optioned interior designer Sheila Bridges’ acclaimed book The Bald Mermaid: A Memoir in order to adapt Bridges’ remarkable personal story into a series.

The Bald Mermaid: A Memoir comprises engaging and deeply personal vignettes that explore questions of identity, femininity, race, success, and what it really means to have it all. Bridges was very successful in her career as an interior designer, creating homes for high-profile clients and hosting her own television show. But when she lost her hair due to alopecia, she lost it all: This is her story of coming to terms with what success and happiness mean to her, realizing the cost of independence, and understanding what it means to stay true to herself in the face of judgment, criticism, and expectation from family, friends, lovers, and strangers.

“Sheila’s story is that of a groundbreaking, iconic interior designer who has lived a dynamic life, built a thriving business, and created a classic design with her Harlem Toile,” said Willis. “I’m honored to share her life and vision through design with the world. There are so many good black stories that go untold and I want to ensure that Sheila’s is not one of them.”

The deal was negotiated by Lisa E. Davis of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC for Bridges and Clifford Lo for Willis and Southern Fried Filmworks.

Residing and working in Harlem for more than 25 years, Sheila Bridges was named America’s Best Interior Designer by Time Magazine and CNN. She has a new collection with Wedgwood that features a version of her famed Harlem Toile.