The fresh prince of Bel-Air makes a dark return with Bel-Air, an hour-long series based on Morgan Cooper’s popular fan film that looks back on the 1990s sitcom as a drama. The project, by Westbrook Studios and Universal Television, by Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, is currently being streamed to streamers, and I’m drawing strong interest and big promises, including multiple rights to series assignments, to wage a bidding war to put, I hear.
Cooper will direct and co-produce the potential series, which he co-wrote with Chris Collins (The Man in the High Castle, The Wire). Collins is an executive producer and showrunner.
Set in America, Bel-Air is a serialized one hour dramatic analogue of The fresh prince of Bel-Air that follows the original premise: Will’s intricate journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated Bel-Air hostels. With a reimagined vision, Bel-Air will delve deeper into the inherent conflicts, emotions and bias that were impossible to fully explore in a 30-minute sitcom format, while still delivering swagger and fun nods to the original show.
Westbrook Studios, a division of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s Westbrook Inc., and Universal TV, which owns the original series, will serve as studios.
The short film by cinematographer Cooper took the internet by storm when it was released in March 2019. Described by Cooper as “a reinterpretation” that brings the story “into modern life in 2019”, it has more than 7.5 million times viewed date in two official YouTune posts only.
The four-minute trailer has received a lot of praise, including from Will Smith who appeared in a video with Cooper, and told the filmmaker, “That’s an idea that’s brilliant.” (You can view it below.)
Bel-Air would be a good fit for a number of streamers, and I hear Netflix, Peacock, HBO Max, Amazon and Apple are all interested.
The worldwide popularity of The fresh prince of Bel-Air and Smith would claim the title for platforms with strong U.S. and international presence such as Netflix, Amazon and Apple.
The original sitcom was a signature series for NBC. That legacy would play into Peacock as a potential home. The NBCU Streamer is actively re-launching classic NBC sitcoms with Saved By the Bell en Punky Brewster, and the Fresh Prince reimagening is co-produced by corporate sibling Universal TV.
Meanwhile The fresh prince of Bel-Air is distributed by Warner Bros. TV Distribution. It streams on sister platform HBO Max where Bel-Air would complement the library of the original.
The TV division of Westbrook Studios, managed by Terence Carter, also has This Joka, a 16-episode stand-up comedy series by Quibi hosted and executive produced by Will Smith.
