fiction.wikisort.org - Screenwriter

Mara Brock Akil (born Mara Dionne Brock; May 27, 1970) is an American screenwriter and television producer. She created the UPN comedy series Girlfriends (2000–2008) and its spin-off The Game (2006–2015). She later created the first drama series for BET Being Mary Jane (2013–2019). In 2018, she produced Black Lightning for The CW and created Love Is for the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Mara Brock Akil
Akil in 2013
Born	Mara Dionne Brock (1970-05-27) May 27, 1970 (age 52) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Northwestern University
Occupation	Screenwriter, producer
Years active	1994–present
Spouse	Salim Akil ​ (m. 1999)​
Children	2

Early life and education

She was born in Los Angeles, California to Joan Demeter, and was raised primarily in Kansas City.[1] When Brock Akil was eight years old, Demeter divorced Brock Akil's father, later becoming the vision behind Brock Akil's main character in Girlfriends. Demeter left Los Angeles and moved to Kansas City, where she was able to work her way up from an entry-level position at Marion Labs to a computer programmer, while raising Brock Akil and her two siblings: brother William "Bill" Brock and younger sister, actress Kara Brock.[2]

She graduated from Raytown South High School in 1988. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and became a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.[3] While at Northwestern, she penned and acted in a sketch comedy show for Northwestern's Black Student Union, played the lead in a production of The Colored Museum, and took a screenwriting course taught by author and screenwriter, Delle Chatman.[4] Brock Akil moved to Los Angeles a year after graduation and landed a job as a production assistant.[5]

Career

Brock Akil first began writing for television in 1994 writing for the critically acclaimed but short-lived Fox series South Central.[6] In 1999, she served as supervising producer and writer on The Jamie Foxx Show after writing for Moesha for four seasons.[7] In 2000, Brock Akil created and executive produced (along with Kelsey Grammer) another UPN series, Girlfriends. She also created and executive produced a spin-off to Girlfriends, The Game, along with her husband Salim Akil.[8][7] In 2009, Brock Akil became a consulting producer and writer for the ABC suburban sitcom Cougar Town.[9] She is the creator of BET's Being Mary Jane, which premiered in 2013.

Brock Akil went straight to UPN and sold her idea for her hit series to the network.[10] She shopped the series around to studios to start the filming process, but, even though the show sold to a major network, no filming company wanted to take the bait. She struck a deal with Kelsey Grammer, and his involvement with Paramount Pictures was able to sign on as an executive producer for the show.[11] Girlfriends premiered on September 11, 2000, and became a part of UPN's Monday night prime time lineup. Chronicling the life of Joan Clayton, played by Tracee Ellis Ross, and her three friends, the show ran for eight seasons, lasting through the production switch from UPN and the launch of The CW network. The show's two-part series finale aired on the CW on February 11, 2008.

Following the launch of the CW network, Brock Akil created a spin-off series to her first show that follows the life of Joan's cousin, Melanie Barnett, played by Tia Mowry. She places her dreams of being a doctor on hold and moves to San Diego to be a supportive backbone to her boyfriend, professional football player Derwin Davis, played by Pooch Hall. The series ran on the CW network for three seasons until its abrupt ending in 2009. The show was canceled for about two years until it was picked up by BET and began production in Atlanta. The Game brought in 7.7 million viewers in its Season 4 premiere on BET.[12] After adding six more seasons to the series, the network released a statement on its website stating that the show would conclude after production of the seventh and eighth seasons.

With an already established relationship with the BET network, Brock Akil worked alongside her husband to co-write and produce their first show on BET. Being Mary Jane, starring Gabrielle Union premiered July 2, 2013, and became the couple's first hour-long scripted show. The show chronicles the life of Mary Jane Paul, a successful news anchor, and attempts to address the statistic that within the black community 42 percent of successful women will never marry.[3]

As of March 2017, Brock Akil left ICM Partners to join CAA.[13] More recently in September 2020, she signed a multi-year overall deal with Netflix to create new original content, under her new production company story27 productions.[14]

The Akils created and executive produced a scripted superhero series, Black Lightning, based on DC Comics' Black Lightning series.[15] The show premiered on January 16, 2018.

Legal issues

Staci Robinson, writer and author of Interceptions, filed a 40 million-dollar lawsuit against Brock Akil and the CW network, accusing Brock Akil of stealing the concept of her hit CW comedy series "The Game" from Robinson's novel that was unpublished when she showed it to her in 2001. Robinson claimed she thought of the show first because her novel chronicles the life of Stefanie Porter, a senior studying law at UCLA, who ceases her hopes of becoming a lawyer to support the dreams of her boyfriend, star football player Ricky Powers.[16]

Personal life

Brock Akil met Salim Akil while working on the set of Moesha, and the two married in 1999.[17][18] Salim also went on to establish a career in the industry as a television director, most notably as the showrunner of Black Lightning, on The CW.[19][20][21] The couple has two children.[7][22] She and her husband, Salim, are practicing Sufi Muslims.

The Akils created Love is ___, which was based on their relationship, but was canceled after a woman accused Salim of domestic violence in an alleged extramarital affair, as well as copyright infringement by using her screenplay as the basis for the series.[23][24] A statement made by Akil's lawyers denied all allegations.[25][26]

Along with friends Gina Prince-Bythewood, Sara Finney Johnson and Felicia D. Henderson, Akil endows The Four Sisters Scholarship.[27]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Producer	Writer
2012	Sparkle	Yes	Yes
2013	The Start Up	Yes	No

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1994	South Central	No	Yes	No
1996-1999	Moesha	No	Yes	Yes
1999-2000	The Jamie Foxx Show	No	Yes	Yes
2000-2008	Girlfriends	No	Yes	Yes	Creator
2006-2015, 2021-2022	The Game	Yes	Yes	Yes	Creator
2010	Cougar Town	No	Yes	Yes
2013-2019	Being Mary Jane	No	Yes	Yes	Creator
2015	Reed Between The Lines	No	No	Yes
2018	Love Is	Yes	Yes	Yes	Creator
2018-2021	Black Lightning	No	No	Yes

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Result	Category	Series
2005	BET Comedy Awards	Won	Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series	Girlfriends
2007	NAACP Image Awards	Nominated	Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (shared with Mark Alton Brown, Dee LaDuke, Veronica Chambers, Michael B. Kaplan, Karin Gist, Tim Edwards, Regina Y. Hicks, Michele Marburger, Kevin Marburger, Shauna Robinson, Prentice Penny)	Girlfriends (For episode "After the Storm")
2012	NAACP Image Awards	Won	Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (shared with Salim Akil)	The Game (For episode "Parachutes...Beach Chairs")
2013	Black Reel Awards	Nominated	Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted	Sparkle
2014	Black Reel Awards	Won	Outstanding Screenplay (Original or Adapted), TV Movie or Mini-Series	Being Mary Jane
2014	NAACP Image Awards	Nominated	Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series	The Game (For episodes "Blueprint Part 1" & "Blueprint Part 2")
2015	NAACP Image Awards	Nominated	Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series	Being Mary Jane (For episode "Über Love")
2016	NAACP Image Awards	Won	Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series (shared with Jameal Turner and Keli Golf)	Being Mary Jane
2018	Black Reel Awards	Won	Outstanding Drama Series (Shared with Salim Akil, Greg Berlanti and other producers)	Black Lightning

References

External links

• Mara Brock Akil at IMDb
• Akil Productions Official Site
• Creator Commentaries (CW Network)

На других языках

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- [en] Mara Brock Akil

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[ru] Брок Акил, Мара

Мара Брок Акил (англ. Mara Brock Akil, род. 27 мая 1970 (1970-05-27)) — американский телевизионный продюсер и сценарист, считающаяся одной из самых успешных темнокожих женщин-создателей телевизионных шоу[1]. Брок Акил добилась успеха благодаря созданию телевизионных шоу с темнокожими женщинами в главных ролях[1].

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