More big moves are being made by Issa Rae and if reports are to be believed, this latest deal is a massive one. She burst onto the scene with her Awkward Black Girl series that turned itself into Insecure, and over the years, Issa Rae has been building her production empire brick by brick. Her story of working from the ground up is one that many entertainment hopefuls long for, and Variety reported on Wednesday (March 24), Rae has doubled down on her partnership with HBO.
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According to the outlet, it was back in 2016 when Rae penned a deal with HBO for a two-year contract, and in 2018, she renewed for another three years. The actress’s Hoorae media company will partner with WarnerMedia, meaning she gives “HBO, HBO Max and Warner Bros. television exclusive rights” to her work. That includes first-look film deals and television prospects.
“It’s really exciting to have that flexibility and just deepen the relationship that we already have,” said Rae. “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,” she added. “That’s just been a staple of mine with so many of the people that I work with.” Variety’s “sources” also shared that the five-year deal earned Rae $40 million, but that hasn’t been confirmed by the mogul herself. She did, however, tweet, “Thank you to @Variety and to everyone for the kind words and support. Excited for this next chapter. HOORAE! (And them ‘sources’ are John Snow [side eye emoji][yawnemoji]).”
Last month, Rae announced that she’d partnered with City Girls to produce a show on HBO Max.
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