TV writer LaToya Morgan’s first two projects for AMC’s scripted inclusion initiative –“Farmhand” and “Of Two Minds” — are in development, the network announced Thursday.
The initiative launched last year and is overseen by Morgan, who also serves as a co-executive producer on “Into the Badlands” and has written for “The Walking Dead,” “Shameless” and “Parenthood.” She currently has a multi-year overall deal with the network. As part of the initiative, Morgan supervises and mentors emerging writers in order to infuse diverse voices into AMC’s development slate.
No dates have been set yet for either show. Additional project announcements under the initiative are to come.
“Farmhand,” from Rob Guillory, is described as following “Jedidiah Jenkins, a simple farmer, but one whose cash crop isn’t corn or soy. He grows fast-healing, plug-and-play human organs. For years, Jed’s organic transplants have brought healing to many, but deep in the soil of the Jenkins Family Farm something sinister has taken root.”
“Of Two Minds,” from Morgan Dover-Pearl, is a dark comedy described as following “a woman trying to ‘have it all’ who suffers a traumatic brain injury that results in a severed corpus callosum, causing her left and right brains to cease all communication. With this very unique disability, she has to build a new way of life for herself while trying to navigate living with two brains that are constantly at odds with one another.”
“What has always been important to me as a creator is not just the kinds of stories that get told, but who gets the opportunity to be storytellers,” Morgan said. “With this initiative, I wanted more writers of color and women to have seats at the creative table and AMC has been a great champion. These projects by Morgan and Rob, as well as a few others we are developing, are as unique, moving, and powerful as the voices behind them.”
Sarah Barnett, president of the entertainment networks group at AMC Networks, says the question of who gets to tell stories in television is a critical one. “A key thing I’m focused on is inclusivity, finding diverse writers, creators and talent on both sides of the camera so that we can better reflect the lives and experiences of our audiences,” Barnett said. “These projects both have incredible promise: they come from smart writers and have a totally original point of view.”