Netflix announced on Monday that renowned filmmaker Ava DuVernay and Colin Kaepernick have teamed up to create a limited series about Kapernick’s life, titled “Colin in Black & White.”
What We Know:
- A 6-episode scripted limited series examining the adolescent life of an athlete and activist Kaepernick is in the works. Colin in Black & White, created by Kaepernick and the Emmy-winning filmmaker DuVernay, will focus on his teenage years and early football, basketball, and baseball successes in Turlock, California. The limited series will put particular emphasis on the influences and circumstances that developed the social and cultural conscience of the young man adopted by a white family.
He would grow up to play in the Super Bowl and realize you never stop fighting for your dreams.
She would grow up to tell stories that matter to millions.
From @Kaepernick7 & @ava, the dramatic scripted series Colin In Black & White follows the H.S. years of Colin Kaepernick. pic.twitter.com/eb75RkuW2H
— Netflix (@netflix) June 29, 2020
- “The series will focus on Kaepernick’s formative high school years, lending meaningful insight into the acts and experiences that led him to become the activist he is today,” Netflix said in a news release. The show aims to provide an “introspective look at Kaepernick’s early life as a Black child growing up in his White adoptive family and his road to becoming a talented NFL quarterback while defining his identity.”
- Kaepernick will appear as himself in the series as its narrator. “Too often we see race and Black stories portrayed through a White lens,” Kaepernick said in a statement. “We seek to give a new perspective to the different realities that Black people face. We explore the racial conflicts I faced as an adopted Black man in a White community, during my high school years. It’s an honor to bring these stories to life in collaboration with Ava for the world to see.”
- Michael Starrbury, an Emmy nominated writer, will serve as writer and executive producer alongside DuVernay and Kaepernick. Starrbury and DuVernay worked together on the acclaimed Netflix series “When They See Us,” which told the story of the men once known as the Central Park Five, now called the Exonerated Five.
- “With his act of protest, Colin Kaepernick ignited a national conversation about race and justice with far-reaching consequences for football, culture, and for him, personally,” DuVernay said in the news release. “Colin’s story has much to say about identity, sports, and the enduring spirit of protest and resilience. I couldn’t be happier than to tell this story with the team at Netflix.”
- Kaepernick famously led kneeling protests during performances of the national anthem in 2016 to bring attention to police brutality and racial injustice. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has not played for a football team since 2016 after he was not signed by a team and found himself shunned by the NFL.
- Netflix’s Vice President of Original Content, Cindy Holland, said of the official Kaepernick and DuVernay partnership “We’re proud to bring Colin’s experience and his creative vision to life as he joins Ava to share his powerful story and message with all our members around the world. It is an unparalleled union of two strong and defining voices coming together to tell the story about what it’s like to be Black in America.”
The six-episode series was first conceived in 2019, and the script was completed this past May. Netflix has not yet released a premiere date for Colin in Black & White.
