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‘Tom & Jerry’ Director Tim Story To Helm ABC Drama Pilot ‘Queens’

Peter White
·2 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Tim Story, fresh from directing the No. 1 theatrical film of the weekend, Tom & Jerry, is set to helm the pilot for ABC hip-hop drama Queens.

Story is best known for directing hit feature films including 2005’s Fantastic Four and its sequel, Barbershop, Ride Along and its sequel and Shaft, but he has worked in TV before, shooting the pilot for Fox’s Standoff, Freeform’s Nicki Minaj project and Showtime’s White Famous.

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Queens, written by Zahir McGhee, follows four women, estranged and out-of-touch, in their 40s reunite for a chance to recapture their fame and regain the swagger they had as the Nasty Bitches – their ’90s group that made them legends in the hip-hop world.

The pilot stars rapper Eve and Power alum Naturi Naughton. Eve plays Professor Sex, while Naughton stars as Da Thrill.

2021 ABC Pilots & Series Orders

It’s quite fertile ground for Story, who performed with Ice T’s group Rhyme Syndicate while in high school and has directed a slew of hip-hop and R&B music videos.

Story, who is the first Black director whose films have grossed more than $1 billion at the box office, also will serve as an exec producer on the pilot, which is also being exec produced by McGhee and Sabrina Wind. The latter exec produced the Disney+ series Muppets Now, via her Windpower Entertainment.

Queens is among a number of drama pilot orders handed out by ABC recently including Epic, from the team behind Once Upon a Time; Kevin Costner’s National Parks; and Sam Esmail’s procedural Acts of Crime.

Tom & Jerry, which was released over the weekend in theaters and on HBO Max scored the second-best opening during the pandemic since theaters reopened in August with $14.1M domestic.

Story is developing a number of projects via his production company The Story Company, including a TV adaptation of Finding Forrester at NBC and feature films including The Blackening at MRC, Praise This at Universal and Two Faced at Bron Studios.

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