EXCLUSIVE: In a power pairing, Tracy Oliver and Issa Rae have teamed up for hourlong series project Open, Deadline has learned. Co-created by the duo, Open was recently taken out and has garnered seven offers, I hear. It is produced by Paramount Television Studios under Rae’s first-look there.
In Open, when a married couple who did everything “right” open their marriage to save it, the decision sends shockwaves through their Houston friend group, igniting affairs, exposing secrets, and forcing everyone to confront the lies holding their relationships together.
Oliver will serve as showrunner on the potential series which she executive produces alongside Rae and Jax Clark via Rae’s Hoorae banner, Brian Dobbins for Artists First and David Becky and Jonathan Berry for 3 Arts Entertainment.
Both Oliver and Rae have been busy lately. As Deadline reported exclusively on Tuesday, Oliver is writing and executive producing Hilary, a Bel-Air spinoff headlined by Coco Jones as Hilary Banks, which is in development at Peacock.
Also on Tuesday, Deadline broke the news that HBO has ordered an untitled Male Friendship comedy pilot, written and exec produced by Rae, with Prentice Penny set as showrunner, EP and director. It is believed to be a pre-existing project set up before Rae in January signed a three-year first-look film and TV deal with Paramount.
Oliver became the first Black woman to write a film that grossed more than $100 million with the 2017 Girls Trip. Her feature credits also include Little, The Sun Is Also a Star and The Blackening. In TV, she created and exec produced the series First Wives Club and Harlem. Oliver has in the works The Wedding Date, a movie for Netflix based on Jasmine Guillory’s book, Girls Trip 2, The Blackening 2, the holiday film Deck the Y’alls starring Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain as well as thriller drama series Paper Gods at Netflix and Not a Happy Family at Starz. She is repped by CAA, Artists First and Myman Greenspan Fox.
Rae is known for her breakout HBO comedy series Insecure, which she co-created, headlined and showran. It earned 14 Emmys and a Peabody over its five-season run. She went on to executive produce HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show, on which she also performed, and HBO Max’s Rap Sh!t. As an actor, Rae will next be seen in the movie Babies, which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival. She is repped by CAA, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
