Ava DuVernay Sets Romance Anthology Series ‘Cherish the Day’ at OWN (EXCLUSIVE)
By Joe Otterson
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Oprah Winfrey Network () has given out a straight-to-series order for an anthology that hails from , Variety has learned exclusively.
The series is titled “Cherish the Day.” Each season, the anthology series chronicles the romance of one couple, with each episode spanning a single day. The season-long narrative will unfold to reveal significant moments in a relationship that compel people to hold true to the ones they love, from the extraordinary to the everyday. The show is currently slated to debut in winter 2020.
“OWN is home,” DuVernay said. “I’m honored to create television for a network headed by an artist with spectacular vision and unbridled passion for the stories that we want to tell.”
This marks the second series that DuVernay has at OWN. She also developed the series adaptation of the novel “Queen Sugar” for the network in addition to serving as director and executive producer on the series. The fourth season is set to premiere in June.
DuVernay created “Cherish the Day” under her recently announced overall deal with Warner Horizon Scripted Television. She will executive produce “Cherish the Day” along with Oprah Winfrey. Tanya Hamilton, who previously directed for “Queen Sugar,” has been set as showrunner and executive producer. Hamilton will also direct the series premiere. Frequent DuVernay collaborator and “Queen Sugar” executive producer Paul Garnes will also executive produce. DuVernay’s Forward Movement and Winfrey’s Harpo Films will produce in association with Warner Horizon.
“Ava is a visionary storyteller,” said Winfrey. “She brings so much care, so much heart, so much love to the art she creates. I’m excited to continue collaborating together with our very first anthology series for OWN.”
DuVernay is primarily known for her work in film, having directed the Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary “13th” as well as the Academy Award-winning film “Selma.” She is also the first African-American female director to have a film cross $100 million at the box office with the Disney film adaptation of “A Wrinkle in Time.” On the TV side, she recently wrapped production on the upcoming Netflix series “When They See Us,” which tells the true story of the group of young men of color who came to be known as the Central Park Five, and is an executive producer on the CBS drama “The Red Line.”
She is repped by CAA and Del Shaw Moonves.
Hamilton’s other directing credits include shows such as “Greenleaf,” “The Chi,” “Vampire Diaries,” “Berlin Station,” and “American Crime.” She also directed, wrote, and produced the film “Night Catches Us,” which screened in competition for the Sundance Grand Jury Price in 2010. She is currently a fellow at the Sundance Screenwriter and Filmmaker Lab. She is repped by Michael Lewis & Associates and Syndicate Entertainment.
In addition to “Cherish the Day” and “Queen Sugar,” OWN’s current slate of originals includes the shows “Greenleaf,” “The Haves and Have Nots,” and “If Loving You Is Wrong.” The network will premiere the dramas “Ambitions” from Will Packer and “David Makes Man” from Tarell Alvin McCraney in 2019.
