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Lil' Romeo, Master P Films Find A Home

Walt Disney Co.-based production company Beacon Pictures is banking on the appeal of father-son rappers Master P and Lil' Romeo to pack a punch at the box office, having picked up a pair of projects involving the duo.

They include "Uncle P," an urban family comedy that Master P had bankrolled himself and recently wrapped production on with Bernard Gourly directing, and the comedy "Shorty," which Beacon is in early negotiations to pick up out of turnaround at Universal Pictures. Both films were written by Dallas Jackson.

"Uncle P" is described as an urban "Uncle Buck" meets "Mr. Mom." The project sees Master P essentially starring as himself, a multimillion-dollar businessman in New York known as P Miller (short for his real name, Percy Miller), who is also a world-famous rapper. When Miller's sister, a single mother living in suburban California, becomes ill, she asks her brother to come and take care of her three children. Romeo plays the middle child, a mischievous 12-year-old who desperately needs a father figure in his life.

"I'm very excited about 'Uncle P' finding a home with the Beacon family," Master P said. "They share the same vision that Dallas, Romeo and I have of taking urban family entertainment to the next big box office level."

Jackson was equally enthused about the deal. "I'm very proud to have written the first independently produced African-American family movie to be picked up by a studio," he said. "Master P is a brilliant businessman, a smart filmmaker and a great mentor to talent, and Beacon understands this."

"Shorty" centers on a midget alien stranded in a Los Angeles neighborhood who becomes a rapping, hip-hopping partner with a 12-year-old (played by Lil' Romeo) who wants to win an MTV talent contest. While at Universal, Jesse Dylan had been attached to direct, which is being produced by Master P and Marc Platt.


-- Josh Spector, The Hollywood Reporter

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MC Hammer Hits With WB Comedy Series

MC Hammer has teamed with writer-producer Devon Shepard for a comedy series project for the WB Network to star the former rapper. The project falls under MC Hammer's script deal with the network, which he signed following his stint on the WB reality series "The Surreal Life."

Shepard is set to write and executive produce the project, loosely based on MC Hammer's life as a minister and family man after his departure from the music scene in 1997.

"The show is going to focus more on his family as well as himself adjusting to their new lifestyle -- they're not broke, they're not rich, they're just not in the same tax bracket as they were when he was a rapper -- as well as his kids adjusting to having their father at home every day," Shepard says.

"Hammer and I both agreed that we were going to try to approach this kind of like 'The Cosby Show' was in the '80s, to really give it that traditional feel that I think is lacking in television right now," he adds.


-- Nellie Andreeva, The Hollywood Reporter