STARZ developing limited series on Cyntoia Brown-Long

Global media streaming platform STARZ has announced it is developing a limited drama series on the story of Cyntoia Brown-Long, who served 15 years of a life sentence for killing a man when she was 16.

“The Case of Cyntoia Brown” is being executive produced by La La Anthony and 50 Cents and his G-Unit Film & Television. Anthony, who is a long-time supporter of Brown-Long herself, brought the project to G-Unit. The series is being written by a co-executive producer, Santa Sierra; who is better known as the writer of the fourth episode of the announced TV series “Power Book III: Raising Kanan,” executive story editor for four and writer for one (of those four) episodes of the season one of TV series “Mayans M.C.” and story editor for all six and writer of one (of those six) episodes of the first season of TV series “Vida.” Brown-Long and her husband, Jamie Long, will provide consultation.

The upcoming STARZ series is based on the book “Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System” by Brown-Long.

A boyfriend sex trafficked Brown-Long when she was a minor. She was tried as an adult when she was 16 and sentenced to life in prison for aggravated robbery and first-degree murder. She maintained for years that the killing in 2004 was in self-defense. Even though she was 12 at the time of the killing, she was required to serve at least 51 years before she could be eligible for parole consideration, which would be when she was 67.

In late 2017, she received support from celebrities including, besides Anthony, Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna and LeBron James. After a little over a year on January 7, 2019, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam commuted her original sentence to 15 years and Brown-Long was released on August 7.

The series is developed through the overall deal of 50 Cents through his G-Unit banner with STARZ. Kathryn Tyus-Adair, senior vice president of Original Programming at STARZ, is the executive overseeing the series on behalf of the streaming platform.

Original Programming president Christina Davis said in a press release, “We’re honored to be entrusted with Cyntoia’s story, which shines a light on the injustice of a system that tried and sentenced an at-risk minor as an adult when she was a victim herself of sex trafficking.”

She added, “This limited series from Curtis, La La and Santa chronicles Cyntoia’s long journey to freedom and furthers our #TakeTheLead programming mandate centered on narratives by, about and for women and underrepresented audiences.”

Featured image is by Sister Circle TV and licensed under Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)