Issa Rae, Golden Globe nominee, executive producer and star of the show Insecure, is working on new shows that are sure to be added to your must-watch list next year.
Through ColorCreative, the production company ran by Issa Rae and Deniese Davis, the Fresh Wave competition was created for women and minority writers to pitch their original TV series idea and see it go from script to screen. The Awoken is a sci-fi drama written by Katelyn Howes, winner of the most recent Fresh Wave competition. It is about a woman named Alabine Rivers, who is cryogenically frozen and brought back to life in 2103. With the help of an underground group of rebels, she must fight for the basic rights of others like her in a society that dehumanizes minorities.
“We believe The Awoken does what all great science fiction does: It moves the heart as well as the mind. It also gives us lens into our present by looking into the near future.” -Eli Hakami and Julian P. Hobbs, co-presidents of Talos Films
Issa Rae is giving people who may not have otherwise had the opportunity, a chance to showcase their talent to a wide audience. From the looks of the trailer, the show looks like it’s going to be both entertaining and reflective of today’s society.
Coming to HBO soon, Issa Rae has co-created and is the executive producer for two up incoming shows centered around black people. The single-camera comedy Him Or Her is centered around the love life of a bisexual black man and will explore “the distinctly different worlds and relationships he finds himself in.” Former Daily Show writer Travon Free created the series based on his own experiences. Rae told Huffington Post, “I was immediately drawn in to the concept from his initial pitch and am so grateful that he’s trusting us with his vision.”
HBO has also picked up her second project called Sweet Life and will be set in Los Angeles County’s Windsor Hills neighborhood, which is sometimes called the “black Beverly Hills.” The new show is co-written and co-created by Rae and Raamla Mohamed, writer of ABC’s show Scandal. Rae originally shared the idea on social media calling the show a “90210” for black kids.
With these two new shows centered around black lives, Issa Rae is using her platform to represent black diversity and break the stereotypes given to us by the media and society. Rae hopes to represent normal black lives and expose the audience to representation in a natural way.
