with Jeroslyn JoVonn
February 6, 2024
Acclaimed novelist Terry McMillan has a slew of new original movies coming our way thanks to her new partnership with Lifetime.
Acclaimed novelist Terry McMillan has a slew of new original movies coming our way thanks to her new partnership with Lifetime.
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of “Waiting to Exhale,” “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” and more has entered in a new partnership with Lifetime to executive produce new original films under her production company 'Terry McMillan Presents'; Variety References. The new films are being made as part of Lifetime's 40th anniversary and will stay true to McMillan's work focusing on love and the lives of black women.
Casting details for the upcoming films in the Terry McMillan Presents series will be revealed later this year. The new films follow the success of McMillan's previous film “A Day Late and a Dollar Short,” starring Whoopi Goldberg, Mekhi Phifer, Anika Noni Rose, Kimberly Elise, Tichina Arnold and Ving Rhames.
“As women, we can be messy. We can be complicated. We can be so many things,” McMillan said. “Life is never tied up in a bow, so it's exciting to be back in business with Lifetime that allows women to tell our own stories in an authentic way.”
McMillan has seen all of her novels become New York Times bestsellers, including her latest novel It's Not All Downhill From Here. Her first novel, Mum, was published in 1987 and saw McMillan take over after becoming disillusioned with her publisher's work. After reaching thousands of booksellers, mostly Black bookstores, the book soon sold out of its original first hardcover printing of 5,000 copies.
“Terry is an American treasure with her ability to capture the female experience of finding love and happiness,” says Lifetime EVP and head of programming Elaine Frontain Bryant. “We are so excited to be working with her on these new films that I know will resonate with our viewers as well.”
McMillan has won the NAACP Image Award and the Essence Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award, and saw her debut novel “Mama” receive the Doubleday New Voices Award and the American Book Award.
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