Emmy & Tony Award Winner Billy Porter To Direct High School Coming-Of Age Film For Orion Pictures

Deadline reports that Emmy and Tony Award winner Billy Porter is set to direct What If?, a high school coming-of-age drama, for Orion Pictures.

Written by Alvaro García Lecuona, the film is billed as a cross between coming-of-age features Booksmart and Love Simon, follows high school senior KHAL who posts on r/relationships about his crush on Kelsa, a trans girl at his school. The internet encourages him to go for it and the two navigate a high school senior year relationship that neither could have expected.”

What If? is produced by Christine Vachon and David Hinojosa on behalf of Killer Films (First Reformed, Carol, Zola) along with Andrew Lauren and D.J. Gugenheim on behalf of Andrew Lauren Productions (Vox Lux, The Spectacular Now, High Life). The project marks the first film under MGM and Killer Films recently announced first-look deal.

Orion Pictures is exclusively dedicated to underrepresented voices and authentic storytelling in film with a focus on developing, producing and acquiring feature films that amplify underserved voices, both in front of and behind the camera.