Loading ...Comedienne Maysoon Zayid Adapting Life Story Into Series
Rebecca Ford
Hollywood Reporter
Screenwriter Lindsey Beer is working with Zayid to turn her story into an anthology series.
Maysoon Zayid is a Palestinian-American comedienne and actress whose 2014 TED talk about her career and life living with cerebral palsy became the most watched of the year. She uses her wit and humor to tackle issues of discrimination by empowering and entertaining people — and now she’s taking her story to the small screen.
Zayid is teaming with writer Lindsey Beer (Transformers 5, Barbie) to write an anthology series based loosely on her own life. Zayid has previously turned her story into a screenplay called If I Can Can, but is reworking it with Beer to create a series where each episode is themed around certain headlines like “If I Can Can: Dance” and “If I Can Can: Drive.” Zayid also will star in the project (which is in the vein of Master of None), and it is currently being shopped around town.
Zayid, who was born and raised in New Jersey, has been working in entertainment for 16 years, including films like Don’t Mess With the Zohan, comedy festivals and as a correspondent on Countdown With Keith Olbermann. She is repped by WME.
Beer’s most recent studio feature work includes The Transformers and G.I. Joe writers’ rooms, along with a reimagining of the Little Princess spec with Platinum Dunes set up at Paramount. She is currently writing Barbie for Parkes/McDonald and Sony and Kingkiller Chronicles for Lionsgate. Other features that are set up around town include teen comedy Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, being financed by Black Label Media, and R-rated comedy How to Nail an Alien that’s set up with Atlas Entertainment. Beer is repped by WME.
Watch Zayid’s TED talk here.
Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com