Shortly after celebrating the one-year anniversary of Nō Studios, the creative collective he created in Milwaukee following his Academy Award win, John Ridley has announced more hometown love. Ridley will write, direct and executive produce a Showtime series described as an “Emotionally complex family story that spans generations and threatens the fabric of the community in present-day Milwaukee.”
Ridley is putting his star power to good use following the Oscar win, and sharing the spotlight with Milwaukee. According to Deadline and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, R&B star Alicia Keys is among the series’ executive producers; also on board are songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, whose Oscar-winning song (La La Land) was composed with Nicolet alum Justin Hurwitz.
Fun fact: Alicia Keys is a 15-time Grammy winner and executive produced The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete, a 2013 feature film written by Milwaukeean Michael Starburry, and directed by Milwaukeean George Tillman.
In its online post, Nō Studios quoted Ridley as saying, “I couldn’t be more excited to work not only again with Gary and Showtime, but to also collaborate with the phenomenal talents of Alicia Keys, the team of Pasek and Paul (La La Land), Marc Platt (La La Land), and R.J Cutler, and Adam Siegel as well,” said Ridley. “I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to set the series in Milwaukee, and examine the challenges and triumphs of my hometown; a city to which I remain deeply connected.”
Those of us interested in working in film can recall Wisconsin’s former film incentives program, which was implemented and pulled back years ago. It’s time to restore these tax incentives to encourage a vibrant film community in our state. Right now, we’re losing out on valuable big time productions that could be filmed here. The final decision appears not to have been made on where Ridley’s new Showtime series will be filmed. Let’s encourage filming right here in Milwaukee.
