John Ridley and Regina King Developing ‘No Place Safe’ for FX
John Ridley and his “American Crime” star Regina King are teaming up again.
The duo are developing “No Place Safe” about the Atlanta child murders in the late 1970s and 1980s from ABC Signature Studios for FX. King is also set to star in the project based on Kim Reid’s memoir, which the Oscar-winning producer optioned back in 2015.
Wendy Calhoun (“Empire,” “Nashville”) is adapting the book by Kim Reid. Along with Ridley and King, Michael McDonald and Reina King are also producing.
Part mystery thriller, part coming-of-age story and part civil-rights history, “No Place Safe” is a memoir set in 1979 at the time of the Atlanta child murders and told through the eyes of a young African-American teenager. Reid’s mother, an investigator in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office who was on the task force searching for the serial killer, told her in detail about the quest for the murderer of 29 victims, mostly young black boys.
Ridley discussed the project in his recent cover story with Variety, as an example of the creative support ABC Studios has given him.
“It’s been a really, really good partnership. They’ve been amazingly supportive. They’ve given me a lot of latitude,” said Ridley. “They’ve been great about saying, ‘If that’s what you’re really passionate about, how can we support it?'”
King, who has won two Emmys for her work on “American Crime,” recently signed a two-year production deal with ABC Studios.
Get more from Variety and Variety411: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter