Feb. 11, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INSTITUTE, W.Va. – A 2005 communications graduate of West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a writer and story editor for a new TV drama premiering later this month on The CW.
Jeff Thomas, originally from Hurricane, West Virginia, now resides in Los Angeles. He’s using his experience at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to help write and edit screenplays for the upcoming teen drama “All American: Homecoming.”
The new show is a spinoff of “All American” and focuses on the character Simone Hicks, who is a tennis star now attending an HBCU in Atlanta. Simone was introduced in the second season of “All American” and this new series follows her story. The show premieres on The CW February 21.
“When I heard the pitch that there was a show about teenagers going to college on The CW, I thought I was the worst fit,” Thomas said. “Then, they told me it was about an HBCU in the south and I thought, ‘if that doesn’t hit home, I don’t know what does.’”
While working with other writers on the project, Thomas said he feels he can represent a perspective that nobody else in the room can because of his roots and experience at WVSU.
“It’s about the importance of HBCUs, especially in today’s America,” Thomas said. “It’s a show about how important community is and how community becomes the biggest factor in raising tomorrow’s leaders. I think that’s the thing that makes the most sense for me because when you come from West Virginia, there is this unmistakable sense of community and it wraps you up like a blanket.”
When people in Los Angeles talk to Thomas about West Virginia, he said many, especially those from the East Coast, have stories about driving through the state and about how beautiful it is.
“But they don’t say anything about stopping in West Virginia,” he said. “There are a lot of people who know West Virginia is trees and mountains, but there are very few people who know that West Virginia is West Virginians.”
Thomas has lived on the West Coast since 2008 when he was accepted into a screenwriting program at the University of Southern California. His previous TV writing credits include the show “Titans” on the DC Network.
Read more about Thomas’ story on
wvstateu.edu/about/it-starts-at-state.aspx.
Follow
West Virginia State University on Facebook, Instagram
@wvsu_official, and Twitter
@WVStateU.
West Virginia State University is a public, land grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.