Ava DuVernay has signed a multiyear and multi-genre deal with Warner Bros. Television, Deadline reported.
The Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated director’s agreement, in which she will produce and develop television projects exclusively for Warner Bros., will go into effect in January through her company Forward Movement.
DuVernay noted her “beautiful experiences” working with Warner Bros. executives in a statement to Deadline.
“Warner Bros is a terrific partner about matters of visibility and belonging for all kinds and cultures of people, which is our mission at Forward Movement,” she said. “I couldn’t be happier to call Warner Bros TV my production home.”
DuVernay’s work with Warner Bros. includes being executive producer for OWN’s “Queen Sugar” and “The Red Line” for CBS. She responded to the outpouring of support she’s received on social media since news of the agreement was released Tuesday.
“Thanks for the love and light, folks,” she wrote on Twitter. “Really appreciated.”
Peter Roth, president and chief content officer at Warner Bros. Television Group, called DuVernay one of the “leading lights” in the industry.
“Ava DuVernay is one of the leading lights in our industry, a brilliantly talented writer, producer, director and entrepreneur whose ability to inspire with her art is exceeded only by her ability to entertain,” he told Deadline.
DuVernay, whose Netflix series “Central Park Five” is expected to premiere next year, became the first woman of color to direct a live-action film with a production budget of at least $100 million with Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” which opened in March.