Gabrielle Union options George M. Johnson’s best-selling memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue for a TV series

Gabrielle Union has optioned the television rights to George M. Johnson’s best-selling memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue.

The 47-year-old actress and producer picked up the book through her I’ll Have Another Productions company to develop at Sony Pictures Television, via Deadline.

Union and her I’ll Have Another Productions company is under a first-look deal with Sony TV, where she has projects in development at HBO Max, Quibi and Apple.

All Boys Aren’t Blue was published April 28 through Macmillan, where Johnson, a journalist and LGBTQ+ activist, describes his childhood in Plainfield, New Jersey.

The book, which is billed as a ‘memoir-manifesto’ also covers his college years at a historically black college in Virginia.

The memoir explores growing up black and queer, with the title touching on the notion that blue is a color for boys, but also that he grew up in a ‘blue’ household because his dad was a cop.

‘I wrote this memoir and shared these stories because of the importance and need to center black stories from the black perspective,’ Johnson told Deadline.

‘I didn’t have stories like these growing up and honestly I don’t have many now so I knew I needed to do my part to make sure the next generation of black queer children had something they could relate to and connect with,’ he added.

‘There are days I look at TV and film and still don’t see myself represented. So, my ultimate goal was providing the story I didn’t have but always needed and to be the vessel so that so many can feel seen and heard,’ he concluded.

He added that Union is, ‘a champion in the fight for supporting marginalized communities of color,’ while also, ‘lifting every voice who hasn’t had the opportunity to be heard.’

Johnson gave Union a shout-out on Instagram a few months back, after she recommended the book, and the actress-producer revealed the story is personal to her, raising a queer identifying daughter.

‘Queer black existence has been here forever yet rarely has that experience been shown in literature or film and television,’ Union began. 

‘Being a parent to a queer identifying daughter has given me the platform to make sure that these stories are being told in a truthful and authentic way and George’s memoir gives you the blueprint for that and more,’ she added.

‘What I love about this book is that it not only offers a space for queer kids of color to be seen and heard but it also offers those who see themselves outside of that standpoint to be held accountable and help them better understand what it takes to truly have acceptance with someone who is considered other,’ Union concluded.

Union currently stars on L.A.’s Finest, which had its Season 2 premiere pushed by Spectrum in the wake of protests surrounding the death of George Floyd.