OWN links with Moonlight talent

Moonlight won Best Picture at this year’s Oscars

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in the US has ordered a drama series from the co-writer and executive producer of Oscar-winning feature film Moonlight.

The as-yet-untitled one-hour drama comes from Tarell Alvin McCraney and will also count Michael B. Jordan, Mike Kelley and Melissa Loy among its executive producers.

Set in South Florida at the end of the Barack Obama’s presidency, it follows a grieving 14-year-old prodigy in poverty who must choose between the streets that raised him or the higher education that may offer him a way out.

Page Fright and Outlier Productions, in association with Warner Horizon Scripted Television, will produce the coming-of-age drama, which marks the first television series from playwright, actor and producer McCraney.

“When Tarell shared his powerful story with us, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room,” said Winfrey. “I knew this was something special that our viewers will without a doubt connect to and feel compelled to explore with us.”

McCraney added: “I wanted to explore the pivotal steps towards adulthood and identity, the ones we take when we think or feel we have no other choice.”

Moonlight, which won the Oscar for Best Picture this year, was based on McCraney’s semi-autobiographical script In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. McCraney currently serves as the chair of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama.