Tag Archives: Freeform Grown-ish

‘Black-ish’ Creator Kenya Barris Officially Leaves ABC

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It looks like all the rumors were true. ‘Black-ish’ creator Kenya Barris is officially leaving ABC Studios.

According to sources, Kenya is looking at a nine-figure overall deal with Netflix.

via THR:

“I’m very grateful to Patrick Moran and his team at ABC Studios, who have supported me every step of the way as I created the worlds of Black-ish, Grown-ish and now Besties. It has been an incredible ride including a Peabody and Golden Globe win, Emmy nominations, and many other accolades. But most importantly, they’ve allowed me to realize my dream of creating my own shows and I’m so proud of the work we’ve done together,” Barris said in a statement Friday. “No matter what, the studio has never wavered in their support of my creative vision. Leaving is bittersweet, but between my series on the air and projects currently in development, I know I’ll continue to work with ABC Studios for a long time.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Variety/REX/Shutterstock (9325642b)
Karey Burke and Kenya Barris
Freeform Summit, Panel, Los Angeles, USA – 18 Jan 2018

Barris’ likely move to Netflix comes as the prolific showrunner, as exclusively reported by THR, had been actively trying to get out of his overall deal with ABC Studios, his creative home since 2015. Barris, who earned a Peabody and two best comedy Emmy nominations for his ABC comedy Black-ish, had three years remaining on the lucrative four-year deal he signed in 2017. Sources say other studios, including Warner Bros. Television, courted Barris with nine-figure offers as well. Barris, like Shonda Rhimes when she departed ABC Studios, will remain an executive producer on all of his shows. Kenny Smith has been promoted to co-showrunner alongside Jonathan Groff on Black-ish. Julie Bean continues to serve as showrunner on the Freeform spinoff Grown-ish. Groff, Smith and Bean all have overall deals with ABC Studios. The news comes months after Freeform handed out a straight-to-series order for Barris comedy Besties, which will remain on track.

Barris is a logical fit for Netflix, which is seeking what chief content officer Ted Sarandos has called a “rare class of creator” who can deliver hits that are both critically and commercially successful. Barris has proved the ability to deliver that on both the film and TV side. Also of interest to the streaming service, which is looking to satisfy its 117 million subscribers: prolific producers of content. Again, Barris delivered, overseeing a show and a spinoff (Freeform’s Grown-ish) while also developing aggressively on TV and in film.The Netflix deal follows a series of tough breaks at ABC. In March, for instance, it yanked a politically themed episode of Black-ish following creative differences between the network and Barris. At the time, ABC called the decision to scrap it a mutual one between the network and Barris, though sources say otherwise. The episode was poised to feature star Anthony Anderson’s Dre relaying his concerns about the current state of the country to his son. “Given our creative differences, neither ABC nor I were happy with the direction of the episode and mutually agreed not to air it,” Barris said at the time. “Black-ish is a show that has spoken to all different types of people and brought them closer as a community and I’m so proud of the series.”

First Shonda, now Kenya — ABC Studios out here losing!

Chloe x Halle Debut Album ‘The Kids Are Alright’

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Watch out world, not only are they grown, but Chloe X Halle can do it all by themselves. The grown-ish stars who caught Beyonceé’s attention and landed a recording contract with her label when she found their cover of “Pretty Hurts” on YouTube have taken a few more lessons from their mentor. Namely, write and it produce it yourself. That’s a tall order for teenagers (Chloe is 19 and Halle is 17), even if they’ve been writing songs since they were 10 and 8, respectively. Or is it?

Two things that the music industry does to artists is tell them what kind of music to make (and who to make it with) in order to be commercially successful and market to teen girls while refusing to take them seriously as an audience. Chloe X Halle have made a career out of giving the middle finger to both of those long-held ideas. With their sophomore album, The Kids Are Alright, the duo continue their exploration of ideas lifted from jazz, indie, rock, and pop music, blending them into a hybrid of influences and making them hard to classify. What they’re creating is sonically as advanced as nearly any artist or producer currently working. It becomes remarkable when one adds on the extra layers of doing their own vocal production on their complicated harmonies, producing their own beats, and playing instruments on their own songs. In an ideal world, letting young artists use their own voices and ideas wouldn’t be remarkable, but that’s not our reality just yet.

Listening to this album, which the duo tells Glamour celebrates the powerfulness of being female and that “we always want young girls to know that they are beautiful on their own, and they don’t need anybody to tell them what their self-worth is,” serves as a reminder of why women should write songs for each other. Women aren’t slaves for men, nor are they obsessed with the relationship since you been gone. Chloe X Halle write lyrics that address love, both universal and romantic, but do the latter from a place of power. So many of the sappy pop songs we ask women to consume, which are largely written by men, strip away the autonomy and humanity of womanhood. It’s something you forget to notice until you hear it injected back in

The other theme of the album is a message to other generations that these kids are good and ready to take the reins. In the title track and “Warrior,” especially, the message that Gen Z is prepared to do their part to fix the world offers an uplifting feeling of hope. It’s a reminder to not underestimate or infantilize them simply because they are young. Poetically, their album release date falls one day before the March for our Lives, organized by other industrious members of Gen Z, who are also coming to save us from ourselves.

Originally seen on refinery29