AMC Announces First Two Projects In Development As Part Of Latoya Morgan's Scripted Inclusion Initiative
AMC announced today from the Television Critics' Association (TCA) Press Tour two projects in development as part of the AMC Scripted Inclusion Initiative in collaboration with LaToya Morgan which launched the last year. Farmhand, based on the comic from Eisner and Harvey award-winning creator Rob Guillory about a Southern farmer who grows plant-based organ transplants and Of Two Minds, about a woman who must rebuild her LIFE AFTER a brain injury, are both in active development at AMC. Additional projects will also be developed under this initiative.
The AMC Scripted Inclusion Initiative is overseen by LaToya Morgan, who served as a co- executive producer on INTO THE BADLANDS and with whom the network currently has a multi-year overall deal. In addition to writing and developing new series, Morgan is supervising and mentoring diverse emerging writers to infuse AMC's development slate with more diverse voices.
"The question of who gets to tell stories in television is a critical one, and a key thing I'm focused on is inclusivity, finding diverse writers, creators and talent on both sides of the camera so that we can better reflect the lives and experiences of our audiences," said Sarah Barnett, president of the entertainment networks group at AMC Networks. "These projects both have incredible promise: they come from smart writers and have a totally original point of view."
"What has always been important to me as a creator is not just the kinds of stories that get told, but who gets the opportunity to be storytellers," said Morgan. "With this initiative I wanted more writers of color and women to have seats at the creative table and AMC has been a great champion. These projects by Morgan and Rob, as well as a few others we are developing, are as unique, moving, and powerful as the voices behind them."
Farmhand, from Rob Guillory, follows Jedidiah Jenkins, a simple farmer, but one whose cash crop isn't corn or soy. He grows fast-healing, plug-and-play human organs. For years, Jed's organic transplants have brought healing to many, but deep in the soil of the Jenkins Family Farm something sinister has taken root.
Of Two Minds from Morgan Dover-Pearl is a dark comedy about a woman trying to "have it all" who suffers a traumatic brain injury that results in a severed corpus callosum, causing her left and right brains to cease all communication. With this very unique disability, she has to build a new way of life for herself while trying to navigate living with two brains that are constantly at odds with one another.
