One of the bright spots of Twitter is the annual Thanksgiving meetup between a Black teen and a white grandmother after an accidental text message. Six years–and six Thanksgiving dinners–after their initial serendipitous exchange, their story is being turned into a Netflix film.
Variety reports that The Thanksgiving Text will bring new audiences into the story of Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton. The film will be written by The Bobby Brown Story and Salt-N-Pepa writer Abdul Williams. A director and cast haven’t been announced at this time. The Hate U Give producers George Tillman Jr. and Robert Teitel are producing via Slate Street Pictures. Lawrence Mott is executive producing.
ntally texted Hinton when trying to text her grandson if he was coming for Thanksgiving dinner.
Hinton, a high school senior at the time, took the text in stride and wrote that he’d like to come, officially becoming a new friend of the family. Hinton’s girlfriend has also become a part of the tradition.
“We’re excited to share our story with the world,” Hinton and Dench said in a joint statement. “We hope it inspired more people to reach out and make connections that they wouldn’t ordinarily make. We are so blessed to find a genuine friendship brought together by God from a mistaken text message.”
Check out Netflix and Jamal Hinton's posts about the upcoming film below:
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I am very excited to announce our new partnership with Netflix. We thank every single one of you for your love and support in our journey the last 6 years. We can’t wait to tell our story on the big screen! 🎥🍾 pic.twitter.com/0heCmEWMDM
— Jamal Hinton (@Jamalhinton12) December 2, 2021