The Traveling Picture Show Company (TPSC) has acquired the rights to two series from USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and RITA Award-winner Kennedy Ryan: Hoops and All the King’s Men.  TPSC will develop the six books into two limited series for television.  Kevin Matusow, Carissa Buffel, Luisa Iskin and Johnny Wunder of TPSC are producing with executive producer Sadia Ashraf under her Rising Tides banner.

The All the King’s Men series, including The Kingmaker, The Rebel King and instant USA Today Bestseller Queen Move, follows two best friends who dedicate their lives to electing leaders who will champion the causes they are committed to. Activism around Native rights, missing and murdered indigenous women, climate change, pay equity and voter suppression are among the issues explored on their journeys.

The HOOPS series, including Hook Shot, Block Shot, and Long Shot, which was recently listed by Oprah Magazine as one of the “greatest romance novels to read in your lifetime,” occurs in the fast-paced world of the NBA. The series follows three couples who range vocationally from professional basketball players, to high-powered sports agents to a rising fashion designer. 

In 2019, Ryan became the first African-American author to win the Romance industry’s prestigious RITA® Award, which has since been renamed the Vivian honoring Vivian Stephens, founder of Romance Writers of America. With the win, Ryan’s groundbreaking book Long Shot shattered a ceiling other talented African-American authors had been cracking for 37 years. Ryan writes empowered women from all walks of life and sees her mission as centering those who have found themselves often on the margins of traditional storytelling.