A Biblical Love Story From DeVon Franklin Is Coming To Netflix

By Movieguide® Contributor

A new biblical love story from DeVon Franklin is making its way to Netflix.

R&B is a modern-day retelling of the story of Ruth and Boaz, set in Tennessee and against the backdrop of the music industry. Movieguide® award winner Franklin is set to produce, alongside Tyler Perry.

“R&B is about a young woman who escapes the Atlanta music scene to care for an elderly widowed woman, and in the process finds the love of her life and gains the mother she never had,” Variety wrote of the upcoming movie.

Serayah (EMPIRE) and Tyler Lepley (HARLEM) will play Ruth and Boaz. Phylicia Rashad (THE GILDED AGE), Walnette Santiago (DOOM PATROL), Nijah Brenea (KOLD X WINDY), James Lee Thomas (ONE SPOON OF CHOCOLATE), Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, Jermaine Dupri (GENIUS: ARETHA) and Lecrae Moore round out the cast.

Alanna Brown will serve as director. She previously wrote and directed TREES OF PEACE, which released on Netflix in 2022.

Franklin shared his excitement for the movie on Instagram, writing, “My brother @tylerperry and I have set the cast and director for our new production, the Bible-Inspired Love Story ‘R&B’!”

“R & B will debut on @netflix next year,” he continued. “this is the first production of the new partnership Tyler and I formed to bring faith based content to the world!”

Brown also posted about R&B on Instagram, writing, “I’m so thrilled to be directing R&B!!! Thank you so much @devonfranklin @tylerperry and @netflix for trusting me with this. Honored to be working with @serayah @tylepley @phyliciarashad @babyface @jermainedupri and so many other incredible talents on this beautiful story.”

Movieguide® previously reported on Franklin’s commitment to making faith-based content in Hollywood:

Movieguide® award winner DeVon Franklin got his start working on THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, and that opportunity inspired him to devote his career to faith-based content.

Per Deadline, Franklin “had interned for Will Smith since he was a freshman and worked with him for several years before being asked to forge a faith-based marketing campaign for 2006’s THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, Franklin told today’s AVPSummit in south Italy.”

“As a person of faith that movie really spoke to me,” Franklin said. “Domestically it almost made as much as CASINO ROYALE and a lot of people attribute the faith-based marketing campaign to its success.”

He added that THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS “was the first time I said, ‘Oh, who I am as a person can be good for the movie biz and the bottom line. That was the beginning of me merging faith and film,”

His passion for faith-based content continues, and Franklin recently sealed a deal with Netflix to bring more faith content to the streamer.

“After over a year of searching for a new film deal, I had almost given up hope,” Franklin wrote on Instagram. “Then God began to move…At the end of last summer, my agent at WME set up a breakfast for me and Scott Stuber at Netflix, who was the head of film at that time.”

“What was supposed to be a breakfast turned into a 2-hour meeting,” he continued. “And we both connected over the idea of making movies with hope and faith. After the meeting, Scott told Dave that they were interested in making a deal.”

The first project coming from the new partnership is a modern-day retelling of the biblical story of Ruth called R&B.