Netflix’s scripted series based on the life of Colin Kaepernick has found its star in Colin in Black & White, Jaden Michael! The series, as you may recall, is being filmed by Ava DuVernay.

via People

Netflix’s Colin Kaepernick Series Casts Jaden Michael as Former NFL Star and Activist
Credit: Courtesy Netflix

Michael, 17, has previously appeared in Todd Haynes’ drama Wonderstruck, Baz Lurhmann’s The Get Down, and indie film Custody. Most recently, he starred in Lorne Michaels’ comedy, Vampires vs. The Bronx.

Michael Starrbury is executive producing and writing for Colin in Black & White, alongside DuVernay, 47, and Kaepernick, 32, who will also be the narrator.

The six-episode series was conceived in 2019 and its script was finished this year. According to Netflix, the series will explore Kaepernick’s years as a Black teen growing up with a white adoptive family and how it informed the person he is today.

The age of reboots continues, and this time we are talking Flashdance! As you may recall, Flashdance was the 1983 film that launched the career of Jennifer Beale, centering on a young girl with dreams of becoming a professional dancer.

CBS’s streaming network, CBS All-Access now has a series based on Flashdance film in the works!

via Deadline

Jennifer Beal in “Flashdance”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the reboot will follow a young Black woman “with ballet dreams and a strip club reality” who is trying to find her place in the world “while navigating romance, money, art, friendship and how to love herself.” (In the original film, Beals’ character was a welder at a steel mill who dreamed of becoming a professional dancer.)

Lynda Obst, who served as an associate producer on the original Flashdance, is attached to exec-produce the potential series. Angela Robinson (The L Word, True Blood) is also on board as an EP and will direct the pilot, while Tracy McMillan (Good Girls Revolt) will write the script.

As previously reported, CBS All Access will rebrand as Paramount+ in early 2021, as part of a relaunch of the streaming service that will combine original content with shows from CBS and cable outlets MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Network and Nickelodeon. (Paramount Pictures was also Flashdance‘s original distributor.)

We are excited to see a Flashdance reboot in the works! Basing it on a Black girl this time around definitely shows the streaming service’s commitment to more diverse and Black content. We are not sure who they will be casting in the lead role but we hope somehow Jennifer Beal is involved. Maybe she can be the character’s mother or even teacher.

What do you think of this reboot? Sound off in the comments’ section below! We hope CBS Access does it justice! Happy viewing!

“Lost Ollie” is the story of a lost toy, searching across the countryside for the boy who lost him, and the story of the boy who lost more than a best friend.  An epic adventure to reunite in the face of all the dangers that childhood can throw at them.

via Press Release

I’ve been a toy collector my entire life. My personal collection consists of thousands of toys, some modern and sleek, and others vintage and worn from all the adventures I took them on as a kid. And though time has taken its toll, I have held onto them because of the special place they hold in my heart. We’ve all had a toy like that – a confidant, a protector, a sidekick, a best friend. And when we’ve lost a toy…it’s like we’ve lost a part of ourselves.

That’s the premise of Lost Ollie, the tale of a lost toy searching across the countryside for the boy who lost him, and the story of the boy who lost more than a best friend. This new live-action family series has been in the works for four years. It was one of the first projects I bought when I came to Netflix because I saw in it the universal story of loss that all of us, no matter how old, could relate to.  

The show is inspired by a story developed by Academy Award winners Brandon Oldenburg and William Joyce, which later became the book Ollie’s Odyssey – and has been artfully adapted by creator Shannon Tindle, whose Kubo and the Two Strings was one of my favorite animated films in recent years. Shannon found a deeply personal connection to the material and has brought Ollie to life with the same artistry and emotion that he did on Kubo, Coraline, and his Emmy-winning work on Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends.  

We are thrilled that Academy Award-winner Peter Ramsey is going to helm this epic adventure as director and executive producer. Peter previously adapted another of William Joyce’s works (The Guardians of Childhood) into the animated feature film Rise of The Guardians. Then of course he gave us all a stunning, new and vital vision of everything animation can be as the director of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which earned the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2019.

Joining Shannon and Peter are Shawn Levy, Josh Barry and Emily Morris from 21 Laps Entertainment, some of the brilliant minds who brought us Stranger Things, and Academy Award winners Brandon Oldenburg and Lampton Enochs. And we’re so lucky to have the Emmy Award-winning artists at Industrial Light & Magic bringing Ollie and his friends to life.

Lost Ollie is truly an odyssey about two friends trying to reunite in the face of all the dangers that childhood can throw at them. I love this show because it taps into that well of emotion we all feel when we lose something or someone important to us, and the courage we have to find in ourselves to get it back, or to move on. 

I can’t wait for you to meet Ollie and to fall in love with him like we have. And until then, give your favorite toy an extra squeeze for me.

We have to say this is a project we are looking forward to. We are also familiar with the books centered around Ollie. It kind of feels like an even more heartwarming Toy Story. We will keep you posted as more information about Lost Ollie besomes available.