Jul 8, 2020

Oscar-winning short story "Hair Love" to become a series on HBO Max

"Hair Love" is going strong. The Kickstarter project, which has been adopted by Hollywood studios and won an Academy Award, is now a series. [HBO Max has ordered a 12-episode, 2D animated season of "Young Love," based on characters from a short film by Matthew A. Cherry and Sony Pictures Animation (top image). The film follows an African-American father who struggles to get his daughter's hair done while her mother is in the hospital. The new show is described as:

Filled with comedy and heart, "Young Love" follows the Young family - including millennial parents Stephen and Angela, daughter Zuri, and pet cat Rocky - as they juggle careers, marriage, parenting, social issues, and multigenerational dynamics all in an effort to better their lives. The series honestly portrays their efforts to make a better life for themselves while juggling careers, marriage, parenting, social issues, and multigenerational dynamics.

Cherry, creator of the series, will serve as showrunner along with writer/producer Carl Jones ("Boondocks," "Black Dynamite"). Executive producers are Monica A. Young of Blue Key Entertainment and David Steward II and Carl Reed of Lion Forge Animation, all of whom are involved with Hair Love.

Launched on Kickstarter in 2017, "Hair Love" raised record donations for an animated short and was eventually acquired by Sony Pictures Animation. Cherry, who comes from a live-action background, co-directed the film with animation industry veterans Everett Downing Jr. and Bruce W. Smith. The film was released theatrically before The Angry Birds Movie 2, which won this year's Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

The original short had almost no dialogue. That seems to be - unsurprisingly - changing in the series. Cherry wrote on Twitter, "Dear Black Voice Actors, 'Young Love' is ...... We are now open for business," he wrote. Over the past few weeks, there has been a heated debate about the opportunities facing black actors in animation.

Dear Black Voice Actors... #YoungLove is a new animated series based on characters from our Oscar-winning animated short film #HairLove, @hbomax https://t.co/cGPsJhUiuY

- Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) July 7 2020

In a statement, Cherry said, "I am beyond excited to continue telling the story of Steven, Angela and Zuri and to further explore the family dynamics of young black millennials established in the short film Hair Love as an animated series. We couldn't have asked for a better partner in bringing 'Young Love' to life than Sony Pictures Animation and HBO Max."

"Hair Love" is available at: