Meredith Dawson To Adapt Stacey Abrams Novel ‘Rules Of Engagement’ For Universal With Kerry Washington Producing
EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has landed the rights to Stacey Abrams’ Rules of Engagement with Meredith Dawson set to adapt the screenplay. Abrams will produce through Sage Works Productions with Kerry Washington and Pilar Savone producing through Simpson Street.
The novel follows an operative for a top-secret intelligence organization, knows that her undercover work has its risks. So she doesn’t hesitate when asked to infiltrate Scimitar, the terrorist group that has stolen lethal environmental technology. But when she’s assigned a partner—brooding, sexy Adam Grayson—to pose as her lover, Raleigh discovers that the most dangerous risk of all…is falling in love.
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For Universal and its Chairman, Donna Langley, this marks another project where Langley is elevating female voices in a big way. Senior Vice President of Production Lexi Barta will oversee the project for the Studio.
Best known for her best selling novels and politcal advocacy, Abrams innovative approach has continued to break barriers and support transformational progress. She served as Minority Leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, and she was the first Black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in United States history. Abrams has launched multiple nonprofit organizations devoted to democracy protection, voting rights, tackling policy issues, and building a more equitable future.
While she is best known for her efforts in the political realm including a huge effort in the 2020 election, Abrams has also become a prolific author. She has written political thrillers, children’s books, romantic suspense novels, and non-fiction books. Abrams founded Sage Works Productions, Inc., a media company dedicated to leveraging the power of storytelling to craft creative solutions. She is the award-winning producer of the documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy, which made the 2021 Academy Award shortlist for best documentary.
Dawson has been a rising star in writing circuits following her break as a writer on two Mindy Kaling series, Champions and Four Weddings and a Funeral. She most recently was a co-executive producer on Everybody Still Hates Chris, the reimagined animated version of the Chris Rock live action series.
Upcoming projects for Simpson Street, which was founded by Washington and Savone in 2016, include the second seasons of the Onyx/Hulu/ABC Signature series UnPrisoned, starring Washington, which will premiere July 17, and the legal drama series Reasonable Doubt, set to premiere on August 22. Simpson Street also executive produced the Sundance Audience and Festival Favorite Award-winning documentary Daughters, which focuses on young girls separated from their fathers by incarceration. The film will stream on Netflix later this year.
Dawson is repped by CAA, Kaplan Perrone, and Felker Toczek Gellman Suddleson, Abrams and Sage Works Productions are repped by UTA.
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