EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is making a feature take of Chris Leslie-Hynan’s novel Ride Around Shining which Rodney Barnes will adapt. Jonah Hill’s Strong Baby Productions is producing.
The Harper-published novel tells the provocative story of a young white chauffeur and his wealthy black employer, a professional basketball player; a discomfiting portrait of envy and obsession.
Barnes is also an associate producer on the project. Hill, Matt Dines, LaKeith Stanfield and Colin Stark are producing with Ali Goodwin executive producing.
Up next for Barnes is the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, on which he serves as an EP and writer of. Based on Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, the series is debuting on March 6. Barnes has several other projects in the works including a mini-series about the fall and comeback of controversial golf champion Tiger Woods. He’s also writing the script for an original creature feature for New Regency with Jordan Voigt-Roberts to direct and working with Levantine Films on the television adaptation of his best-selling graphic novel series Killadelphia: Sins Of The Father, which he will both write and produce. His previous credits include the Peabody Award winning series The Boondocks and Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Marvel’s Runaways and the seminal sitcom Everybody Hates Chris.
Barnes launched his own comic studio and publishing imprint, Zombie Love Studios with the goal of creating a space dedicated to storytelling from BIPOC perspectives in a format where they typically aren’t told– making way for more nuanced, honest depictions of Black culture within the medium. Barnes and Zombie Love Studios are set to release several additional titles in 2022, including: Tales From The Crip, which Barnes has teamed up with Snoop Dogg to create; Blacula, a graphic novel adaptation of MGM’s classic 1970s film; Crownsville, an epic ghost story set in America’s first Black mental asylum; and Florence and Normandie, an alien apocalyptic saga co-written by Barnes and actor/rapper Xzibit. Among Barnes’ most recent titles are: Army of Darkness, James Bond Himeros, Marvel/Lucasfilm’s Lando: Double or Nothing, Lion Forge’s Quincredible, and a one shot Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters focused on droid bounty hunter IG-88. Additionally, Barnes is among the top creators who have expanded their work via Substack; allowing Barnes to release brand new titles for fans, as well as further expand his Killadelphia and Nita Hawes Universe with new runs of his popular Nita Hawes Nightmare Blog, Elysium Gardens and, most recently, 20 Degrees Past Rigor.
Barnes is repped by UTA, Artists First and attorney Darrell Miller at Fox Rothschild. Hill is repped by WME, LBI, and attorney Karl Austen. Leslie-Hynan is represented by UTA and Chris Parris-Lamb at The Gernert Company.
