Robin Thede to develop Spelman homecoming zombie comedy for Amazon
The film is being described as a mash-up of “Shaun of the Dead” meets “Girls Trip”.
Actress Robin Thede is developing a zombie comedy feature set at Spelman College for Amazon Studios.
Thede wrote the screenplay and will produce the project titled Killing It with Jax Media’s Tony Hernandez, John Hodges and Brooke Posch. Per Variety, “the story revolves around a group of underachieving friends who live in Atlanta, which becomes overrun by zombies while the friends are taking part in Spelman College’s SpelHouse homecoming event, 10 years after they dropped out of the prestigious HBCU women’s school,” the outlet writes.
The film is being described as a mash-up of “Shaun of the Dead” meets “Girls Trip.” Thede will produce through her For Better or Words banner. No casting or release date has been announced.
Read More: Serena Williams to star in new docuseries for Amazon
Meanwhile, you can next catch Thede starring in season 2 of her acclaimed HBO series A Black Lady Sketch Show, which she also EP’s with co-star Issa Rae. The series, which also features Gabrielle Dennis, Quinta Brunson, and Ashley Nicole Black, earned three Emmy nominations last year.
“The best compliment that I ever get about this show—and I’ve gotten it a lot—is people saying, ‘I feel seen,’” Black tells The Daily Beast. “That’s all I ever wanted growing up as a little girl. Comedy didn’t even feel available to me because all the people you saw doing comedy didn’t look like me. I didn’t even know that it was an option for me.”
After the first season premiered, Black was asked by a reporter about the impact she hopes the show has in Hollywood.
“I said I hope a lot more fat people get into comedy,” she laughs. “Because there hasn’t been a lot of representation for us. The real point of it for me is for women, people of color, people with different bodies, and LGBTQ people to see themselves in a comedy show and not be getting made fun of, but being the one who’s having the fun.”
As theGRIO previously reported, aside from recruiting a slew of A-list celebrity guest stars for the series, Thede has provided tons of reasons to tune in. Not only is the show hilarious and thought-provoking, it also represents Black women in ways we haven’t seen before.
“I try to really focus on creating work that will make people feel seen and feel important and feel joyful even when we’re doing sketches that are thrillers or horror parodies on A Black Lady Sketch Show, I think there’s always those moments where you’re going to see something and go, ‘She did that for me,’ and that’s what makes me happy,” Thede said in a 2019 interview.
Read More: Amazon warehouse workers reject union bid in Alabama
Thede’s comedy often centers on social issues and sometimes those jokes aren’t incredibly obvious.
“When I’m creating sketches and when I’m reading sketches, writing sketches, performing in sketches, the most important thing for me is to invite the audience to come to this party. If that involves educating them on something or if something goes over their heads it’s not my intention. I’m not trying to educate intentionally but sometimes I know that does happen because I will never dumb down jokes because I think an audience is stupid because I don’t think an audience is stupid,” she explained.
“I will say that even if something goes over someone’s head it’s not because they’re dumb and it’s not because they’re not educated enough to understand the joke. It’s just because I’ve brought them into a realm where we’re not normally seen…I’m not trying to write things that are over people’s heads or confuse people but I do think in comedy you have to be more subversive these days in order to not feel like you’re doing something that’s been done before,” she added.
The second season of A Black Lady Sketch Show premieres April 23.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s “Dear Culture” podcast? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today!
The post Robin Thede to develop Spelman homecoming zombie comedy for Amazon appeared first on TheGrio.