‘Girls Trip’ writer Tracy Oliver signs overall deal with Apple
The multi-year deal will allow her to create across TV and film
Tracy Oliver is not slowing down.
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The writer and producer just inked new deal with Apple to produce content. The multi-year deal will allow her to create across TV and film, per Variety. The deal is a collaboration with her company Tracy Yvonne Productions.
“So many late nights. Lost weekends. Free rewrites. Crippling anxiety. Tears. Emotional eating. Missed holidays. It’s been a very long road… And I can finally say it was all worth it. Beyond grateful to be in business with @AppleTV and excited for the projects we’re cooking up!” tweeted Oliver.
The writer extraordinaire is known for co-writing the 2017 film Girls Trip, starring Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, and Tiffany Haddish.
The film grossed $100M at the worldwide box office.
She also developed The First Wives Club for BET+ in Sept. 2019. Next, she is working on a series about four women as they navigate their college years at NYU titled, Harlem.
Back in 2019 Oliver explained how she got into writing.
“As a Black woman drama student, I was getting tired of the ways in which I was getting cast, so I took this class called ‘Actors Who Write, Writers Who Act,’ raised money, and started putting on my own shows,” she said per IndieWire.
“And that was the first time that I was forced to write for myself, which was life-changing because that was the first time that I realized I didn’t have to rely on someone else’s version of me. I could create something and cast myself in it.”
Insecure creator Issa Rae also just signed a big pretty big deal, per theGrio.
It’s confirmed that not only is the actress and producer renewing her commitment to HBO, she’s also inked a brand new five-year overall deal that will create a partnership between her Hoorae media company and WarnerMedia.
According to Variety, “The pact gives HBO, HBO Max and Warner Bros. television exclusive rights to Rae’s work in TV, plus a first-look film deal that spans WarnerMedia brands, including Warner Bros. Pictures Group, New Line and HBO Max.”
“It’s really exciting to have that flexibility and just deepen the relationship that we already have,” the 36-year-old told Variety as part of the magazine’s March cover feature. “Hoorae already had at least 15 projects in various stages of development with them, so we’d been working with them on the drama side, the unscripted side, and the documentaries side for a couple years now.”
“When people believe in you and build with you, I tend to want to further that relationship. That’s just been a staple of mine with so many of the people that I work with,” she added.
While both Rae and WarnerMedia declined to comment on the value of the deal, sources close to the proceedings told Variety that her pact is valued at $40M over five years, putting her on par with Donald Glover, who inked a similarly lucrative overall deal with Amazon Studios.
“She’s obviously very talented and she’s very prolific,” said HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys. He then gave insight into why it was a priority for the brand to continue doing business with the multi-hyphenate creator. “It’s been very good to work with Issa personally, but also as a company because she’s seeded a lot of talent elsewhere.”
Bloys also acknowledges that Insecure has successfully broadened HBO’s audience due to its younger and more diverse cast and creatives. He added that he’s personally noticed that the Black comedy is religiously one of the first shows people watch when they sign up for the HBO Max streaming service.
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“It’s an indicator of passion,” he explains. “Insecure always scores very high when it’s on and I think that says a lot about the fan base, that she’s telling a story that a lot of people want to hear.”
As reported by Blue Telusma
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