Shonda Rhimes Is Developing a Series With Bessie Director Dee Rees

Shonda Rhimes is collaborating with Bessie writer/director Dee Rees on a historical drama for FX about black migration in the 1900s. This is great news, as these are two women who should definitely be working together.

The series is based on Isabel Wilkerson’s best-selling book that was 15 years in the making, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration.

Variety reports:

The book chronicles the movement of some 6 million African-Americans from the south into the north and western regions of the country from the period of 1915 to 1970. “Warmth of Other Suns” tells much of the story through the eyes of three characters who made the journey in different decades. Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her work at the New York Times, earned a host of critical kudos for the book.

…Rees is writing the adaptation and exec producing with Shonda Rhimes and Shondaland’s Besty Beers.

Reminder that Dee Rees directed another great film, Pariah, in 2011. This FX series will be Rhimes’ first time developing a show for cable.