Fox is developing Cotton Club, a soapy music series based in the hottest club in Harlem in the Roaring ‘20s. It comes from former Empire co-executive producer Ayanna Floyd, who serves as showrunner; Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, producers of NBC’s live musical franchise; Broadway director Kenny Leon; and music executive LA Reid.
Sony Pictures TV, where Zadan and Meron’s Storyline Entertainment has a deal for longform projects, is producing.
Written by Floyd and to be directed by Leon, Cotton Club is about the interconnected lives of the black entertainers who performed there and the white gangsters who ran it.
LA Reid will serve as executive music supervisor on the series, which he will executive produce alongside Craig Zadan & Neil Meron, Floyd and Leon. Mark Nicholson co-executive produce alongside John Rice and Joe Batteer who were once attached as writers to the project. Floyd is expected to write a new script, starting from scratch.
Zadan & Neil Meron/Storyline, Leon and Reid are repped by CAA. Floyd is repped by ICM Partners, Rain Management and Erik Hyman.