Just two days after ABC announced a new development deal with Kerry Washington, the studio has also signed a deal with Viola Davis to develop new projects across its cable, broadcast, and online platforms.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Davis’s production company, JuVee Productions—which she runs with her husband Julius Tennon—will bring in Andrew Wang to serve as head of development. Wang comes from Bravo where he oversaw the network’s first dive into scripted programming.
As was stressed with the Kerry Washington deal, Davis and her team hope to bring more diverse programming to the network, which they’ve been doing a pretty good job with in large part due to the utter domination of Shondaland.
JuVee is currently developing legal drama Conviction for TNT with Debra Martin Chase and writer Ayanna Floyd (Empire). The project is inspired by the life of Kym Worthy, the chief prosecutor of Wayne County, MI, who is known as the toughest woman in Detroit.
“We started JuVee because we wanted to see narratives that reflected our multi-ethnic and multifaceted culture,” Davis said. “We wanted to be a part of classic storytelling, and we didn’t want to wait.”
It seems as though ABC’s new television president Channing Dungey is hitting the ground running and locking down many of the players who have found success at ABC television.
Shonda Rhimes signed a deal in 2014 that keeps her with the studio through 2018. Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo also develops projects for ABC through a similar first look deal.
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