What if Harry Potter went to an HBCU?
This is the cornerstone question screenwriter, director and playwright LaDarrion Williams asks and answers in Blood At The Root. A native of Alabama, Williams crafted Blood At The Root after his frustration with the lack of Black magical narratives on film and television.
Blood at the Root follows the magical experiences of Malik Baron, a young black man named in the bayou of New Orleans and Caiman University, the magical HBCU he attends along with other Black witches.
Not only did Williams write a 63-page screenplay for Blood At The Root, but he enlisted the directorial talents of AJ Lovelace to bring a proof of concept to life.
It all started with a tweet. “What if Harry Potter went to a HBCU in the South?”
— LaDarrion Williams (@ItsLaDarrion) August 23, 2021
Welp—I am happy to announce I am officially repped by @petejknapp and @ParkandFine. #BloodattheRoot ⚜️ is going to be a YA fantasy novel! Black witches. A magical HBCU! And college pooorties! ⚜️ pic.twitter.com/mlmynq88Hw
Garnering over 2,000 views on Youtube, Blood At The Root is set to expand beyond the mediums of script and screen. In an announcement on Twitter on August 23, Williams announced that he officially signed with Pete J. Knapp of Park and Fine Literary and Media to make Blood At The Root a YA fantasy novel.
Until then, descend into the magical world of Malik Baron and watch Blood At The Root below.
