‘Smoakland’ Comedy Produced By Yara Shahidi & Keri Shahidi’s 7th Sun In Works At Freeform

EXCUSIVE: Freeform has put in development Smoakland, a single-camera comedy from writer Jewel Coronel (The Chi), Zahir McGhee (Scandal), grown-ish star Yara Shahidi and Keri Shahidi’s 7th Sun Productions and ABC Signature, where 7th Sun and McGhee are under deals.

Written by Coronel, Smoakland centers around Oakland native Solo, the visionary of a budding cannabis company, who navigates family expectations, changing friendships, love, and her drive to break through the “grass” ceiling of the oft-closed terrain of the cannabis industry for herself and her community.

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Coronel and McGhee executive produce with Yara and Keri Shahidi for 7th Sun. ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios, is the studio.

Coronel serves as co-executive producer on The Chi, which has been renewed for a fourth season on Showtime. Before that, she was a writer on the second and third seasons of Fox’s music drama Star.

McGhee is the creator, executive producer and showrunner of ABC/ABC Signature’s drama pilot Harlem’s Kitchen, starring Delroy Lindo. Scandal, Private Practice and For the People alum McGhee was most recently a consulting producer on the ABC drama Stumptown.

Shahidi became known for her starring role as the oldest daughter Zoey Johnson on the Kenya Barris-created black-ish on ABC and currently stars in Freeform spinoff grown-ish. On the film side, she recently starred in the YA adaptation of The Sun Is Also a Star opposite Charles Melton and is currently in pre-production on David Lowery’s upcoming feature Peter Pan and Wendy in the role of Tinker Bell.

Coronel is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content, and Bianca Levin at Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown, and Passman; McGhee is repped by Verve and attorney Matt Johnson and the Shahidis are repped by CAA and the Nord Group.

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