HBO is not only developing one new series from Issa Rae….but two!
The premium cabler has picked up two new shows, the comedy, Him Or Her, and the drama, Sweet Life. Both are a part of the first-look deal she signed with the network in 2016.
Him Or Her is EP’d by Rae and former The Daily Show writer, Travon Free. It’s description: “The single-camera half-hour chronicles the dating life of a bisexual black man and the distinctly different worlds and relationships he finds himself in.” Free is also writing the comedy series. Additionally, Rae’s ColorCreative.TV partner Deniese Davis is an exec producer as well. If we’re correct, this very well may be the first television show to center the focus on a black, LGBT male since Noah’s Arc (Andra Fuller and Benjamin Charles Watson were both a part of the main cast for The L.A. Complex (2012) and there is a forthcoming Hulu series based on the like of RuPaul Charles).
Sweet Life is “a coming of age tale of the well-heeled teens growing up” in the “Black Beverly Hills” neighborhood of Windsor Hills. Rae co-created the series with Scandal producer Raamla Mohamed. They will both EP and write the script. If you remember correctly, this logline has a striking resemblance to the ‘black 90210’ concept she pitched in a video series with The New Yorker.
Along with a third season of Insecure at HBO, she’s also producing another 1990s-set, LA drama at the network as well.