Chloe Bailey To Star In Universal’s ‘Praise This’ With Tina Gordon Directing & Will Packer/ Tim Story Producing
Deadline is reporting that Chloe Bailey (Grown-ish) has signed on to star in the upcoming film Praise This, which Tina Gordon (Little) is directing for Universal Pictures.
Praise This is a music-competition feature comedy set in the world of youth choirs. We hear that Universal is eyeing it for a potential franchise in the vein of Pitch Perfect, with production on the first installment set to kick off in Atlanta in June. Gordon penned the latest draft of the script, which was based off an original idea by The Story Company. Earlier drafts were written by Camilla Blackett (Little, New Girl) and Brandon Broussard, Hudson Obayuwana and Jana Savage—the trio otherwise known as Murder Ink.
The film falls under Will Packer Productions’ first-look deal with Universal. WPP’s founder and CEO Will Packer will produce alongside The Story Company’s co-founder and CEO Tim Story, with WPP EVP Johanna Byer exec producing. Executive Vice President of Production Erik Baiers and Director of Production Development Tony Ducret will oversee the project on behalf of Universal.
Bailey is an actress, singer-songwriter and record producer who rose to fame as a member of the Grammy-nominated sister duo Chloe x Halle. The actress most recently starred alongside Yara Shahidi on Freeform’s hit show Grown-ish, last year releasing her debut solo single, “Have Mercy.” She will next be seen in Miramax’s supernatural thriller The Georgetown Project, with Russell Crowe and Ryan Simpkins.