Amazon is expanding its relationship with Juliany Taveras.
The playwright, fresh off work on Gloria Calderón Kellett’s With Love, has signed an overall television and first-look film deal with the streamer and retail giant.
Under the pact, Taveras will develop and produce film and TV scripts for the platform. The first project under the deal will be an adaptation of Kacen Callender’s young adult book, Felix Ever After, which is being developed as a potential series.
“It feels surreal that I get to do this! For a long time, I thought it impossible — as a queer/trans person from the Afro-Indigenous diaspora, I never really saw myself reflected onscreen, let alone imagined that I could be behind the scenes getting to tell the story,” Taveras said. “I feel so supported by the creative teams I get to work with, and invigorated by the fierce commitment to specific, impactful and expansive storytelling that we share. This opportunity has changed my life, and I only hope that what I create while I’m here can pay that forward in some way.”
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Felix Ever After was published in 2020 and tells a story of a Black, queer and transgender high school student and explores themes including falling in love and bullying. Time last month named the title one of its 100 best young adult books of all time. Taveras will pen the script for the project, which is being produced by William Wissler Graham’s Field Trip Productions for Amazon. Graham, who has his own overall deal at Amazon, is currently steering the streamer’s Daisy Jones and the Six and A League of Their Own.
Taveras, a Dominican American writer who hails from Brooklyn, New York, focuses their work on bodies in/of diaspora and the pursuit of Black liberation and Indigenous sovereignty. They are also writing an animated film adaptation of Julian Is a Mermaid for Wychwood Pictures and Cartoon Saloon. Their work also landed them on the 2015 Kilroys List and 50 Playwrights Project List in 2018. Their plays have been staged across multiple theater companies and their poetry has been published across a number of publications and other platforms.
“We quickly fell in love with Juliany’s words and dynamism,” said Nick Pepper, head of studio creative content at Amazon Studios. “Their perspective, lived experience and endless imagination are invaluable. We look forward to Juliany’s work continuing to make our global Prime Video audiences feel seen, valued and entertained; it’s our pleasure to be working with such a talent.”
Taveras is repped by APA and Jackoway Austen.
