Will Smith<\/a>, is developing a scripted series about the rise of hip hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, aka Jeff Townes and Smith. The project, titled 215, is the first in a partnership between Westbrook and private equity firm The Malar Group that will have the two companies developing a slate of films and TV series together.<\/p>\n\n\tThe show will track Smith\u2019s early life in Philadelphia (215 is a reference to the area code for the city) and his teaming up with DJ Jazzy Jeff in the 1980s to \u201cchase a record deal, money and a way out as the city\u2019s hip-hop scene takes off,\u201d as the show\u2019s description puts it. \u201cAlong the way they deal with label meetings, hometown loyalty, sudden fame and the friendships that hold them together, or almost don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tA writer is not yet attached to the project.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWestbrook has always been focused on developing stories with strong characters, distinctive worlds and a clear point of view,\u201d said Terence Carter, president of television for Westbrook Studios. \u201c215 is especially meaningful to us because it draws from the rise of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince and celebrates Philadelphia during such a defining era in the city\u2019s late \u201980s\/early \u201990s hip-hop scene. The Malar Group shares our approach to storytelling, and this partnership gives us the opportunity to build a slate together with intention, beginning with a project rooted in friendship, ambition and the integrity of this specific time and place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tMalar Group CEO Sayan Navaratnam added, \u201cWe\u2019re excited to partner with Westbrook Studios on a slate of film and television projects driven by distinctive creative vision and exceptional storytelling. 215 caught our attention immediately. It\u2019s the untold origin story of a show that audiences around the world have connected with for decades, but at its heart, it\u2019s about two people who believed in each other, overcame extraordinary odds and built something that endured. 215 marks the start of a broader collaboration with Westbrook Studios, and we look forward to this project and the stories still to come.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\tWestbrook\u2019s previous scripted shows include Bel-Air \u2014\u00a0a dramatic remake of the Smith-led sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air \u2014\u00a0Cobra Kai and ABC\u2019s Women of the Movement. On the film side, it has a Night of the Living Dead remake, Netflix\u2019s Fast & Loose and I Am Legend 2 on deck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now this is a story all about how the real Fresh Prince\u2019s life got flipped, turned upside down.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427,486765,486766,10221],"class_list":["post-918675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-tv-development","tag-westbrook-inc","tag-will-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}