EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off her record-breaking rookie year in the WNBA, Paige Bueckers is now looking to make her leap onto the big screen, as sources tell Deadline that she is attached to star in the sports pic Jess & Pearl. Apple Original Films is developing the film which is based on an original idea by Zahir McGhee.
Apple had no comment.
The White Lotus producer David Bernad will produce through his Middle Child Pictures banner, alongside Wasserman’s Lindsay Kagawa Colas and Tommy Alter. Bueckers will executive produce.
Set in the world of women’s basketball, the film follows two basketball phenoms who forge an extraordinary bond as teammates until fame, competition and the ruthless business of college athletics threaten to turn their friendship into an epic rivalry.
One of the most decorated college basketball players ever, Bueckers helped lead the UConn Huskies to the 2025 NCAA Division 1 Women’s Basketball Championship. She was selected #1 in the 2025 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings and was recently named the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year and to the 2025 TIME100 Next.
Middle Child Pictures is in post-production on the second season of the Emmy-nominated series Jury Duty and the Netflix film Little Brother starring John Cena and Eric André, and in pre-production on the fourth season of The White Lotus, which has earned 66 Emmy nominations and 16 wins across three seasons.
A co-executive producer on the Hulu series Reasonable Doubt, McGhee spent six seasons on Scandal, where he rose to co-executive producer. He went on to create and showrun Queens for ABC, starring Eve and Brandy, and previously developed Harlem’s Kitchen, starring Delroy Lindo and Sheryl Lee Ralph. His additional writing credits include Private Practice, Stumptown and For The People.
Bueckers is repped by Wasserman; Colas is repped by Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; McGhee is repped by UTA and Matt Johnson at JSS&K; Bernad is repped by CAA and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.