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The L Word‘s Ilene Chaiken and Jennifer Beals are reteaming for another project.
The duo are attached to executive produce an adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s critically acclaimed novel The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo for Disney’s younger-skewing cable network Freeform.
The project, which is in development, revolves around Monique, a struggling twenty-something journalist who is handpicked by Evelyn Hugo, an iconic starlet from the Golden Age of Hollywood, to write her final tell-all book. In success, the drama will be told during dual time periods and follow both women at the precipice of adulthood in their early 20s as they navigate career challenges, racial identity and sexuality and find love. Evelyn’s influence pushes Monique to take risks and discover her true self — even as Evelyn evades the long-standing secret that irrevocably binds them together.
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Chaiken and Beals will exec produce alongside Reid, whose novel Daisy Jones and the Six landed at Amazon with Reese Witherspoon exec producing the limited series adaptation. Reid will pen the script.
Seven hails from Fox 21, the cable- and streaming-focused studio that is now part of the Disney fold. This is the first announced project from Fox 21 to land at a Disney platform since the studio was acquired as part of the latter’s $71.3 billion acquisition.
Chaiken and Beals have a relationship that dates back to Showtime’s original groundbreaking LGBTQ drama The L Word. The pair, who have remained friends since the original series went off the air, are also reteaming for Generation Q, a new take on The L Word, at Showtime. Beals is reprising her role as Bette and is exec producing alongside original creator Chaiken.
For Freeform, Seven Husbands arrives as the cabler continues to target “becomers” — viewers who experience a series of firsts (like love and work). Should the project move to series, it would join a scripted roster that includes the network stables Grown-ish and The Bold Type, among others.
Chaiken is repped by 3 Arts and attorneys Craig Jacobson and Bruce Gellman; Beals is with APA and attorney Patti Felker; and Reid is repped by WME, Circle of Confusion, Park & Fine Literary and Bloom Hergott.
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