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Five months after premiering at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Tayarisha Poe’s feature film debut “Selah and The Spades” has been picked up by Amazon Studios.

The streamer acquired worldwide rights to the film, which was written and directed by Poe, and will distribute “Selah and The Spades” directly to its streaming platform. Amazon also plans to develop an original series based on the teen drama set in a boarding school. Poe will also write, direct and produce the series.

“I’m thrilled that ‘Selah and The Spades’ has found a home with Amazon Studios, and doubly excited to see the world of The Haldwell School expand and develop in the serial format,” Poe said in a statement. “I’d always hoped to work with a company that realized the multi-format potential of this fictional world, and truly we have found the ideal partners with Amazon.”

The film stars Lovie Simone,...

Amazon Studios has acquired worldwide rights to writer/director Tayarisha Poe’s feature film debut “Selah and the Spades,” which made its world premiere as a Next selection this past January at the Sundance Film Festival. Additionally, the streaming giant is developing an original series based on the teen drama, which Poe will write, direct, and produce, along with Lauren McBride, who also produced the film.

Set in the closed world of an elite Pennsylvania boarding school, the Haldwell, where the student body is run by five factions, the film stars a young cast of fresh new faces, including Lovie Simone as the titular Selah Summers. She’s joined by Celeste O’Connor, Jesse Williams, Gina Torres, Henry Hunter Hall, Evan Roe, and Jharrel Jerome, who is likely still basking in the afterglow of his first Emmy nomination for Netflix’s “When They See Us.”

Of Haldwell’s five factions — The Spades,...

Amazon Studios has acquired worldwide rights to “Selah and the Spades,” a gripping look at a prep school drug dealer, Variety has learned.

The film marks the feature debut of writer and director Tayarisha Poe and had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where it was a favorite with critics. Amazon has big plans for the project and is in the process of developing an original series based on the teen drama. Poe will write, direct and produce the original series, along with Lauren McBride who also produced the film.

“I’m thrilled that ‘Selah and The Spades’ has found a home with Amazon Studios, and doubly excited to see the world of The Haldwell School expand and develop in the serial format,” said Poe in a statement. “I’d always hoped to work with a company that realized the multi-format potential of this fictional world,...