Last year, after the revival of HBO’s “Project Greenlight,” Adaptive Studios announced Project Greenlight Digital Studios, an extension of the brand and concept into the digital space, to make Project Greenlight a 24/7 affair, allowing viewers and community members to participate in greenlighting projects, and creators to interact with industry pros. The new operation will provide premium content that will be curated for an online audience, along with a slate of contests and promotions.

Announced in February of this year, one of the offerings, called “The New Normal” writing contest, is a digital series anthology contest, co-presented by Issa Rae’s ColorCreative TV, with the aim of finding emerging and diverse writers. The winner will develop and produce a digital series anthology.




From the announcement: “We’re looking for underrepresented voices in media. If you feel like you have a point of view that’s rare in the entertainment world, then here’s your chance to speak up! Three winning writers will be partnered with a seasoned showrunner, director and line producer to create a digital anthology series. Each of the three winning writers will receive a $5,000 prize; one of the winning writer’s pitches will be selected for development.”

The first project to come out of the initiative is titled “Minimum Wage,” a six-episode comedic anthology series written by Maya Houston, Rebecca Hu and Arpita Kumar. The series follows the five different employees of a run-down fast food restaurant in Los Angeles, who are working to give the business a much-needed revitalization, in addition to their own individual lives.

The anthology series will be directed by Aaron Covington, who co-wrote “Creed” (with Ryan Coogler), and the diverse cast will include John Yuan, Halleta Alemu, Gabriel Brown, Alma Delfina, and D’Lo.

Cindy Fang and Deniese Davis will executive produce the project along with Issa Rae.




“I’m so proud of the writing team behind ‘Minimum Wage.’ It is the beautiful product of collaboration, creativity and inclusion. We’re so happy to have partnered with Project Greenlight Digital Studios to find, out of over 2,000 submissions, these dynamic women writers,” said Ms. Rae.

Worth noting, last month Issa Rae inked a 2-year first-look production deal with HBO which will see her develop new programming for all of HBO’s platforms, with an emphasis on diverse voices. Her first series with the premium cable TV network, “Insecure,” is currently airing.