Colson Whitehead’s Sag Harbor Getting TV Treatment

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Boat Rocker Studios is developing Colson Whitehead’s novel Sag Harbor as a series for HBO Max.

Daniel “Koa” Beaty is on board to write the pilot. Laurence Fishburne and Helen Sugland’s Cinema Gypsy Productions (black-ish) is attached to executive produce.

Set in 1985, the story follows Benji Cooper, one of the few Black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. Every summer, Benji escapes to the Hamptons, to Sag Harbor, where a small community of Black professionals has built a world of their own. Because their parents come out only on weekends, he and his friends are left to their own devices for three glorious months.

Whitehead is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author, with credits such as The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys.

“Colson is a once-in-a-generation author who has the unique ability to craft beautiful and authentic stories that captivate and transform readers, and Sag Harbor is a true expression of that gift,” said Katie O’Connell Marsh, vice-chair of Boat Rocker Studios. “We’re thrilled to be working with HBO Max, Cinema Gypsy and Koa to bring this coming-of-age story to the screen.”