ISSA RAE SIGNS EIGHT-FIGURE FILM ADN TV DEAL WITH WARNERMEDIA

ISSA RAE SIGNS EIGHT-FIGURE FILM ADN TV DEAL WITH WARNERMEDIA

Issa Rae, who just won her first NAACP Image Award for her hit show Insecure, signed a five-year overall deal with WarnerMedia. The partnership gives HBO, HBO Max, and Warner Bros. television exclusive rights to Rae’s work, plus a first-look film deal that includes WarnerMedia brands, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, New Line, and HBO Max.

Rae just ended her three-year overall deal with HBO after her initial two-year overall deal with the media company before Insecure.

“We have been in business with Issa for more than eight years, and we couldn’t be prouder of our collaboration,” said HBO and HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys. “Insecure was a breakthrough series for HBO, and there is much more on the horizon. This new deal is an opportunity to leverage the strength of WarnerMedia to provide a multitude of platforms for Issa’s formidable talents as a producer and storyteller.”

Rae still has plenty of work to complete at HBO. Insecure’s last season is in production along with season two of A Black Lady Sketch Show. She is the executive producer of many upcoming projects, including The Vanishing Half; backyard wrestling Tre Cnt with Dwayne Johnson; a documentary, Seen and Heard; and a comedy based on the podcast Nice White Parents.

“It’s really exciting to have that flexibility and just deepen the relationship that we already have,” Rae tells 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.” She continued, “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.”

By expanding Rae’s partnership, Warners adds her to its top talent list. HBO and HBO Max COO Casey Bloys explained why the brand prioritized continuing business with the one and only Issa Rae.

“She’s obviously very talented and she’s very prolific,” he says. “It’s been very good to work with Issa personally, but also as a company, because she’s seeded a lot of talent elsewhere.”