New York Times Best-Selling Authors, Virginia Deberry & Donna Grant, Sell Movies Rights To Bring Their Hit Novel, "Tryin'," To The Silver Screen

NEW YORK - EntSun -- The New York Times best-selling authors, Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant, are taking their wildly successful novel, Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made, to the silver screen. They have sold the movie rights to award-winning Producer, Dr. Tyrha M. Lindsey-Warren, and TELLY Award winning Director, Taylor Ri'chard, who are working to produce the movie, "Tryin'," based on the hit novel.

Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made was published in 1997 by St. Martin's (MacMillan) to rave reviews. The novel features the lifelong friendship of Gayle Saunders and Pat Reid and spent 15 consecutive months on the ESSENCE Bestseller List, 8 months as #1, and maintains a 5-star rating on Amazon.com to this day. Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made has received numerous awards including-Honor Award Fiction, Black Caucus of the American Library Association, 1997 Book of the Year-Fiction by the African American Booksellers Conference of the American Booksellers Association, and the Best New Author by Go On Girl! Book Clubs. Since it was published, Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made has had three reprints by St. Martin's (MacMillan) with the most recent one being in 2023. The novel sold over 600,000 copies with worldwide sales of over $7 million dollars and still sells to this day.

"We are absolutely over the moon that our debut novel is officially becoming a movie! Our incredible Tryin' fans have waited so long for this moment, and we can't wait for them and everyone else to finally see Gayle and Pat come to life," states Virginia DeBerry. "Tyrha and Taylor are the absolute perfect dream team to bring this story to the screen—their passion for the book is longstanding and undeniable, and we know audiences will fall in love with this film!"

"There is a kind of love women give each other in friendship that rarely gets its due in films, the kind that the movies, Beaches and Steel Magnolias, understood so well, the kind that holds you together in the years no one else is watching. It is where we are seen before we are seen anywhere else, where we practice being whole before the world asks us to prove it. Tryin' illuminates this friendship and I am so happy that Tyrha and Taylor are making this happen for Gayle and Pat," states Donna Grant.

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After a successful stint working in Hollywood for the likes of NBC, Creative Artists Agency, Quincy Jones, and Edmonds Entertainment, along with her time in New York City working as a Marketing and Communications executive for the United States Tennis Association, Alvin Aliey American Dance Theater, and advertising agency, Uniworld Group, Dr. Tyrha M. Lindsey-Warren, is a masterful award-winning producer of live events, theater, advertising campaigns, and film festivals. Her company, L.A.I. Communications, has created and produced the Waco Family & Faith International Film Festival and its sister festivals in Florida, Nigeria, and its HBCU festival. The company has also produced the Off-Broadway play, "An Adam Experiment," on the life of the Honorable Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the GRAMMY-style Grand Opening event for the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame, along with major international film festivals for Bishop TD Jakes in Dallas, Texas, and the award-winning Over the Rhine International Film Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Lindsey-Warren has also led the creation of award-winning promotional campaigns for The Kroger Company, the American Diabetes Association, and the National Speaking of Women's Health Foundation, to name a few.

"When I worked for Quincy Jones*David Salzman Entertainment, one of my first assignments was to find the next "Waiting to Exhale" movie. I found it in Tryin.' However, famed movie executive, Andre Harrell, had the rights. I waited for the rights to lapse and jumped on the opportunity to bring Tryin' to the silver screen, along with the other six books penned by DeBerry and Grant," states, Dr. Lindsey-Warren. "Bringing Tryin' to the silver screen is a dream project for me. I have worked my entire career to produce modern day portrayals of positive and multidimensional African American women in film, TV, theater, and live events. The universal story of "Tryin'" and the power of friendship, and how it can sustain you during your lifetime, is a story that all women, especially those of color, need to see and be empowered by."

Taylor Ri'chard is an award-winning writer, director, producer, and founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based entertainment company, House of REUX. His feature directorial debut, The Final Project, received a worldwide theatrical release in 2016, making him one of the first Black American filmmakers to write, direct, and independently release a horror film theatrically around the world. Its screenplay is preserved in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Margaret Herrick Library. As a producer, Ri'chard helped bring the Ecuadorian feature film, Verano No Miente, to U.S. audiences. His 16mm drama, PEPPER, received the KODAK/First Flights Film Fund Award and made its international premiere at the 17th KASHISH Pride Film Festival in Mumbai. Ri'chard is a member of the Producers Guild of America.

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"Films like Waiting to Exhale showed us what becomes possible when Black women's friendships are portrayed with honesty, depth, and complexity. Tryin' gives us an opportunity to build upon that cinematic tradition while telling a story that speaks to women today," states Ri'chard. "The world still needs stories that honor the extraordinary power of friendship and how it carries, heals, and sustains women, especially women of color, through every season of their lives. This is the kind of culturally grounded storytelling I believe in, and I'm proud to help create work that contributes something meaningful and lasting to the art form."

Currently, Tryin' is in active development with the goal to shoot the project in Q4 of 2026. The shooting script has been completed and marketing agency, Brand Speaks, has recently come on board to pursue branding opportunities for the movie.

For more information on the project, contact L.A.I. Communications at info@laicommunications.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: VIRGINIA DEBERRY & DONNA GRANT:

Virginia DeBerry was formerly the Vice-President of BB/LW, an agency for plus size and petite models as well as a spokeswoman for Hanes hosiery. She currently lives in New Jersey. Donna Grant, a Brooklyn native, currently lives in the borough with her husband. Before becoming a novelist, she spent more than a decade as a plus-sized model. DeBerry and Grant have co-authored seven novels including—Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made (Merit Award/Fiction, Black Caucus of the American Library Association), Far From the Tree (New York Times Bestseller), Better Than I Know Myself (Open Book Award, Essence Bestseller, Best African American Fiction 2004 Borders and Waldenbooks) and Gotta Keep on Tryin'—turning a 25-year friendship into the most successful and enduring writing collaboration in fiction.

NOVELS BY DEBERRY AND GRANT:

Uptown (2010)

What Doesn't Kill You (2009)

Gotta Keep On Tryin' (2008)

Better Than I Know Myself (2004)

Far From the Tree (2000)

Tryin' To Sleep in the Bed You Made (1997)

Exposures (1990)