Most writers are intimately familiar with the near-impossible task of writing a compelling lede — the first few lines of a story designed to hook the reader and draw them in. Yet in 2015, a former Hooters waitress from Detroit logged onto her Twitter account and did it in seconds. “Y’all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out????????,” A’ziah King, a.k.a. Zola, posted, accompanied by a selfie of her with a young white woman named Jessica. “It’s kinda long but full of suspense.”

That opening sentence, as well as the 147 viral tweets that followed, form the basis of the feature film Zola, out June 30th. Directed by Janicza Bravo and written by Bravo and Slave Play author Jeremy O. Harris, the film tells the story of how King (Taylour Paige) became fast friends with stripper Jessica (renamed Stefani in the film, and played by Riley Keough), who invited her for a two-day road trip to Florida to make money dancing at clubs.

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