Romantic Comedy ‘Sitting in Bars with Cake’ to Star Yara Shahidi

Yara Shahidi, the star of Grown-ish and Black-ish, has landed her first leading role in director Trish Sie’s rom-com, Sitting in Bars With Cake. 

Sie, the helmer behind Pitch Perfect 3, has come abroad to direct the film for Amazon Studios. The project itself is based on a blog and book by Audrey Shulman, who detailed her year-long journey searching for a boyfriend through baking. Shulman also wrote the script. 

Cake, based on a true story, centers around a quiet young woman who is unlucky in love and discovers an unlikely guy magnet when she bakes a cake for her best friend’s birthday and brings it to a bar. After her friend convinces her to commit to a year of baking, despite hesitations, she takes on the challenge and sets out to bake cakes, bring them to bars and find love. The young woman’s life proceeds to open up in ways she never could have expected. The project hopes to balance laughs and heart in a story of love and friendship. 

Shahidi and Teri Simpson will executive produce, from Resonate Entertainment, Susan Cartsonis, Brent Emery, and Suzanne Farwell, and All Night Diner’s Nick Moceri will produce. 

The actress has starred in ABC comedies since 2014, including Black-ish and its spinoff Grown-ish. She has starred in films including The Sun is Also a Star and will play Tinker Bell in Disney’s upcoming live-action film Peter Pan and Wendy. This will be her first time tackling a feature.