Yara Shahidi, the star of Grown-ish and Black-ish, has nabbed the starring role in Sitting in Bars with Cake, a comedy that Trish Sie, the helmer behind Pitch Perfect 3, has come aboard to direct for Amazon Studios.
The project is based on a blog and subsequent book by Audrey Shulman, who detailed a year-long search for a boyfriend via baking. Shulman also wrote the script.
Based on a true story, Cake centers on a quiet young woman unlucky in love who discovers an unlikely guy magnet when she bakes a cake for her best friend’s birthday and brings it to a bar, only to be swarmed by men. She believes it’s a fluke, but her friend convinces her to commit to a year of baking cakes and bringing them to bars, with the goal of finding true love. The young woman’s life proceeds to open up in ways she couldn’t have imagined. The project hopes to balance laughs, heart and bittersweetness in a story of love and friendship.
Producing are Resonate Entertainment’s Susan Cartsonis, Brent Emery and Suzanne Farwell, and All Night Diner’s Nick Moceri.
Shahidi and Teri Simpson will executive produce.
The actress has starred in the ABC comedies Black-ish and its spinoff, Grown-ish, since 2014. And while she appeared in movies such as The Sun is Also a Star and will play Tinker Bell in Disney’s upcoming live-action Peter Pan & Wendy, this is the first time she is toplining a feature by herself.
Sie is currently in post-production on Players, a rom-com for Netflix that stars Gina Rodriguez, Damon Wayans Jr., and Tom Ellis and has Marc Platt producing.
Shahidi is repped by CAA, Principal Entertainment LA and The Nord Group. Sie is repped by UTA and attorney Robert Offer. Shulman is represented by Curate.
