*Hollywood Power couple Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil have signed a three-year overall deal with Warner Bros TV to develop original programming for the studio through their Akil Productions. The prolific husband and wife team will transition into the WBTV family in May 2016. The deal comes after two back-to-back overall deals and two hit series at BET.
The creative duo has inked a multiple-year overall deal with the WB – beginning when their agreement with BET ends. Last fall, the Akils extended their then 3-year agreement with the network through 2016, Indie.Wire reports.
At BET, Mara created, and she and Salim serve as executive producers on, “Being Mary Jane,” the network’s first one-hour, hit scripted series, starring Gabrielle Union. Mara will continue as showrunner, segueing to executive consultant at WBTV when her deal starts, Deadline reports. Fans of Union’s show can expect a new showrunner, though, Mara’s replacement has not been named yet, reports Variety.
The duo first joined BET in 2009 when the cable network picked up comedy series “The Game,” created by Mara and executive produced by the couple. The hit series ended its nine-season run August 5. Mara also created and executive produced “Girlfriends,” which ran for eight seasons on The CW. Salim directed “Sparkle” starring Whitney Houston, and “Jumping The Broom” starring Angela Bassett.
During a 2014 interview with Essence, the couple was asked how they work to keep their relationship strong. Mara replied:
“What’s been successful for our marriage, and just every entity that is a satellite to our marriage, is we have defined for us what our life should look like: personally, professionally, spiritually, and so on. If you compare yourself to other people, then you get distracted on the wrong thing and can’t see your own blessings.”
We have to wonder … what are BET’s plans to replace the couple?
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