Currently in the works is a TV series based on a documentary that premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, titled "Muscle Shoals," from director Greg "Freddy" Camalier, which tells the story of the tiny Alabama town called Muscle Shoals, where a group of unassuming, yet incredibly talented locals came together and spawned some of the greatest music of all time: “Mustang Sally,” “I Never Loved a Man,” “Wild Horses,” and many more.
Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, is teaming up with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Produced, and City Entertainment, to develop what will apparently be a scripted series (not a documentary series), which will go behind the music to tell the stories of Muscle Shoals.
During the most incendiary periods of racial hostility, white folks and black folks came together to create music that would last for generations and give birth to the incomparable “Muscle Shoals sound.”
Muscle Shoal in Alabama, located alongside the Tennessee River, was an unlikely breeding ground for some of America’s most creative and defiant music, that produced several huge hits by artists you would be familiar with, like Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Wilson Pickett and Lynyrd Skynyrd to name a few. The 2012 documentary sheds light on the people and the place responsible for the distinct sound that came from the area – a combination of rock, pop, R&B and funk. It includes interviews with Aretha Franklin, Bono, Gregg Allman, Alicia Keys, Jimmy Cliff, Steve Winwood and others.
The scripted series adaptation that’s in the works will include the contributions of the documentary’s director, Camalier, who will co-produce. No word yet on what network it might air.
Watch 2 clips from the 2012 documentary (which is currently streaming on Netflix) below: