Oscar Nominee Stanley Nelson & Jacqueline Olive To Direct Doc ‘The Color Of Cola’ On First All-Black Sales Team In U.S.; Viola Davis & Julius Tennon’s JuVee To Exec Produce
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Showtime’s Attica) is teaming up with Jacqueline Olive (Lincoln’s Dilemma) to direct the feature documentary, The Color of Cola.The film now in production is based on Stephanie Capparell’s 2008 book, The Real Pepsi Challenge: How One Pioneering Company Broke Color Barriers in 1940s American Business.
It sheds light on the experience of the all-Black sales team at Pepsi, which was the first of its kind for any major corporation—following their journey through the Jim Crow South after being tasked with tapping its African American market.The stories of Black pioneers are not unfamiliar, but oftentimes go untold.
Nelson and Olive’s doc aims to elevate one such story exploring a time when corporate America did not include Black professionals, and the Black experience was stereotypically portrayed.
The extraordinary efforts of the individuals on Pepsi’s sales team mirror the courage of many who fought to propel America closer to its aspirations and ideals.The Color of Cola is being co-produced by the Los Angeles Media Fund under the leadership of co-founders Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman, in association with Pepsi’s in-house content studio.
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