Kenya Barris, Paramount Players Tackling Sci-Fi Adventure With ‘One Night in Compton’ (Exclusive)

Paramount Players has picked up One Night in Compton, a pitch package that sees Kenya Barris producing a sci-fi action project.

Rohan Blair-Mangat, who helmed the Quibi series Centerpiece With Maurice Harris, is attached to make his feature directorial debut with Compton, which will be written by Stanley Kalu. The two will share a story by credit.

Logline details are being kept secret.

The project is the first to be set up at Players since former 20th Century Fox exec Jeremy Kramer took over as president of the Paramount movie division in mid-October. The division wants to ramp up quickly as it moves in a new direction, focusing on creating genre films from unique, contemporary voices and properties.

Related Stories

Movie Reviews

'Joyland': Film Review | Cannes 2022

Movie Reviews

'De Humani Corporis Fabrica': Film Review | Cannes 2022

Josh Feldman, who brought the project to Players, will executive produce. Barris will produce through his Khalabo Ink Society.

Barris, an established producer known for his series work such as Black-ish and also a champion of Black voices, finds himself with young and rising talent on Compton.

Kalu, who hails from Nigeria and attended USC’s School of Cinematic Aerts, was the winner of the inaugural edition of The Launch: Million Dollar Screenplay Competition created by producers Zachary Green and Jason Shuman. The competition saw his winning script The Obituary of Tunde Johnson turn into a movie with at least a $1 million budget. Tunde Johnson premiered at TIFF 2019, opened the 2019 Austin Film Festival, and recently won the Audience Award for debut narrative feature at OutFest 2020.

Blair-Mangat, who is of Jamaican and Indian ancestry and was raised in London, is a music video and commercials director with credits including the short film Bam from Jay-Z’s album 4:44, a Clio award-winning music video with Black Thought to accompany the documentary series Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story, and the visual album Nasir — The Film for Nas’ self-titled release.

In July Blair-Mangat, alongside Savanah Leaf, Alli Maxwell and Jason Harper, co-founded Change the Lens, an organization aiming to increase representation and opportunities for Black filmmakers in the commercial and music video industry.

Blair-Mangat is repped by Grandview and Granderson Des Rochers. Kalu is repped by APA, Valor Entertainment and Hirsch Wallerstein.