After over a year of negotiations, much back and forth and the occasional pang of doubt, Long Beach author Myriam Gurba received a piece of exciting news last week via text: her book \u201cMean\u201d would get its network television moment.<\/p>\n
TriStar Television, a television label within Sony Pictures Television and subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment, chose to option her 2017 memoir for its TV debut.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m surprised, very surprised. And also happy. And even more than surprised, kind of shocked,\u201d Gurba, 44, said.<\/p>\n
Given that development is just getting started, Gurba couldn\u2019t offer word on premiere plans or casting, except that the series would be an adaptation of her acclaimed book, which in industry terms, means it could go in just about any direction. What\u2019s more, \u201cMean\u201d employs a non-linear narrative, which poses some challenges in translating to picture, Gurba said.<\/p>\n
Published with Coffee House Press, \u201cMean\u201d is Gurba\u2019s memoir about her coming-of-age story as a queer mixed-race Chicana growing up in Santa Maria, California. The book details her journey coming to terms with her sexuality, race and identity, underpinned by her own experience of sexual assault from a stranger as a young college student in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n
\u201cMean\u201d is also a part true-crime story, as we learn that Gurba\u2019s assaulter went on to brutally rape and kill an itinerant worked named Sophia Torres.<\/p>\n
Glowing reviews of Gurba\u2019s book marvel at her masterful and use of language and unflinching application of humor and wit to explore the cultural complexities and indignities of misogyny, gender-based violence and racism while also illustrating the world-shifting experiences women face in the aftermath of assault.<\/p>\n
Given \u201cMean\u2019s\u201d heavy subject matter, Gurba described some nervous feelings at relinquishing power over her personal story to the network, but added that she will have a hand in shaping the narrative, though in what capacity she isn\u2019t sure yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that’s important for me because very often sexual trauma is treated very salaciously when translated for screen, and I don’t want that to happen with these stories,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Sony Pictures Entertainment could not confirm Gurba\u2019s role or provide any details about the forthcoming television series.<\/p>\n
Several television executives expressed interest in transforming \u201cMean\u201d to screen not long after her book was published, Gurba said, but for personal reasons said she couldn\u2019t move forward with a deal.<\/p>\n
Years went by, circumstances changed, and Gurba revisited the idea, finding a fitting partnership with TriStar executive Christina Jokanovich, whose co-producing credits include \u201cTrue Blood\u201d and \u201cBanshee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working with a female executive was important to her, Gurba said, but she ultimately gravitated toward the executive because of their similar backgrounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has Mexican ancestry and she\u2019s also from Southern California,\u201d Gurba said, adding that they both grew up with parents who were schoolteachers. Gurba taught AP Psychology at Poly High School until last year. \u201cSo those personal connections and those personal parallels mattered to me. And she\u2019s maintained a high level of interest and she was very curious. I appreciated that.\u201d<\/p>\n