feature image photo by Variety / Contributor via Getty Images

If you’re a gay basketball fan, congrats on the return of the WNBA season! And congrats on the announcement of the upcoming feature film Courtside! In case you were too busy figuring out where to stream the WNBA game you were trying to watch (seriously, why is this so complicated?!) and missed the news: Jennifer Beals’ and Ilene Chaiken’s production company Run-A-Muck is making a gay basketball rom-com called Courtside starring actual WNBA players. Most importantly, the film’s writer/director team are a duo we have a lot of love for here at Autostraddle. The Courtside script comes from Brittani Nichols, and it’s directed by Carly Usdin! Two longtime members of the Autostraddle family are making a movie that feels collectively dreamed up by Autostraddle readers who love sports!

The film is about “an injury-plagued women’s basketball superstar with championship ambitions who is thrown for a loop when she falls for a teammate,” according to the LA Times. And it stars real-life WNBA players Gabby Williams,  Theresa Plaisance, and Sydney Colson. Colson is also executive producing and said on Instagram: “If you like Love & Basketball and Bend It Like Beckham and Bring It On but you found yourself wondering, ‘could this maybe be a little bit gayer?’ We got great news for you. Because we had the same question, and the answer is ‘yeah, you can always make it gayer.’”

Thank you for saying what we’re always thinking.

I’ve known Brittani and Carly for about a decade now, and I cannot imagine two people more perfect for this project. The news of a movie like this being made would feel like a celebration here at Autostraddle no matter what, but the fact that it’s being made by two people who are an indelible part of this place and whose art and work we’ve been hyping up for many years?! This is truly the best development and a rare piece of genuinely exciting news coming out of Hollywood these days.

Ten years ago, I attended a screening of the gay film Suicide Kale, written by and starring Brittani and directed by Carly, and remember thinking they were a brilliant creative team. I have no doubt Courtside will continue and build upon that brilliance I was lucky enough to witness in the early days of their careers. Since then, Brittani became an award-winning and Emmy-nominated writer and producer on the super hit show Abbott Elementary and made her directorial debut with season four’s “Music Class.” Carly directed Monét X Change’s show Monét’s Slumber Party and every episode of The Syd + TP Show, so queer basketball fans should already be fans of their work. They’ll be creatively reuniting with Syd and TP for Courtside.

I texted my congratulations to Brittani and Carly on the day of Courtside‘s announcement and asked if they had a few words to share with Autostraddle readers. “There have been a few moments in my career that seem really cuckoo but having a project with Ilene Chaiken and Jennifer Beals has got to be the most absurd thing that’s ever happened to me,” Brittani said. “The excitement around the project has already been incredible but I’m not surprised. Having worked for Autostraddle, I’m intimately familiar with how excited our community is whenever there’s something for us because it so rarely happens. We know people want this story and we’re excited to tell it.”

“Brittani and I have been trying to get this movie off the ground for over five years now, so it’s a real testament to both our combined stubbornness and the obviously gigantic fanbase for women’s sports that we’ve finally gotten here,” Carly added. “Having actual players like Syd, TP and Gabby involved is incredibly meaningful to me because we care so much about authenticity in the world we’re setting out to portray. But it’s fully surreal that, of all the producers in the world, the ones who share our vision and are fully bought in on us also made The L Word??? Younger Carly would be levitating. Current Carly is also levitating.”

I for one am grateful for their combined stubbornness in fighting for this film to get made. Women’s sports fans deserve it, lesbians deserve it, and OG Brittani/Carly Suicide Kale fans deserve it, too! We’re getting a super gay basketball rom-com from a super gay creative team! DREAMS DO COME TRUE!