First-of-its-kind studio venture provides
equity ownership to Black creators across premium TV & film
content
Principal partners include Kenya Barris,
Rashida Jones and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas
BET Taps Aisha Summers-Burke to Lead the New
Venture as General Manager
BET, a unit of ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC; VIACA), today launched
BET Studios, an unprecedented studio venture that offers
equity ownership for Black content creators. Propelled by the
infrastructure and financing of BET and ViacomCBS, BET Studios will
create premium television series and films for an array of internal
buyers, including Paramount+, SHOWTIME, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET+ and
BET, in addition to select third-party platforms that seek
best-in-class content from both leading and rising Black creatives.
BET Studios will launch with principal partners Kenya
Barris, Rashida Jones and Aaron Rahsaan
Thomas.
“The demand for premium content from Black creators has
accelerated dramatically as a result of both the rapidly changing
media and social landscapes. BET, with our 40-year legacy of
celebrating Black culture, and the full power of the ViacomCBS
ecosystem—is uniquely positioned to service this demand,” said BET
President Scott Mills. “As a company with its origin in Black
entrepreneurship, we are incredibly excited to create the first
major studio to provide Black creators with ownership, creative
freedom and the unparalleled partnership and support of BET. I am
thrilled to have Aisha at the helm of this venture, and I look
forward to our collaboration with our amazing creative partners in
BET Studios.”
“BET Studios is an exciting and novel extension of the storied
BET brand, and we have a structure well-suited to our times to
bring top talent into this production company with real ownership,”
said David Nevins, Chief Content Officer, Scripted Originals,
Paramount+ & Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Showtime
Networks Inc. “Scott Mills deserves tremendous credit for driving
this innovative new business from idea to reality – and Kenya,
Rashida and Aaron, could not be a more talented or in-demand group
to lead this venture along with Aisha Summers.”
“The investment being made by Scott, David Nevins, Bob Bakish
and the ViacomCBS team into BET Studios is not only an investment
in Black storytelling, it is also an investment in the culture,”
said Barris. “And while individual success is great, being
able to amplify and champion underrepresented storytellers has been
equally exciting and this venture allows that to continue to be a
key focus in this next chapter of my career.”
“There is such power in the creative talent that the principal
partners bring to the table and BET Studios’ unique ability to tell
Black stories at scale,” said Jones. “This joining of forces
is super exciting for me in the multitude of ways that people of
color see themselves represented on screen.”
“As a new venture, BET Studios offers an opportunity to expand
the brand’s legacy of delivering Black stories,” said
Thomas. “This is a chance to bring nuanced, layered
narratives to life, partnering with a forward-thinking team,
interested in surprising and engaging the audience.”
BET Studios will be headed by Aisha Summers Burke, who
was recently appointed Executive Vice-President and General Manager
of the new venture. In this role, Burke will be responsible for
working collaboratively with the Studio’s formidable creative
partners and key internal constituencies. Along with overseeing the
day-to-day creative affairs for the company, she will also be
responsible for the BET Studios content slate and focusing on
growing the Studio’s production output across both internal and
external platforms. Burke will report to BET President Scott
Mills.
“BET has long been celebrated for excellence in producing
quality programming that authentically depicts experiences lived
within the Black community,” said Summers Burke. “With the launch
of BET Studios, we are excited to introduce a new model that opens
the aperture to a broad array of platforms and supports the full
range of content from Black creators. This entrepreneurial
environment offers creatives the opportunity to produce diverse
high-end content reflecting all aspects of entertainment.”
Prior to joining BET, Burke spent thirteen years at Warner Bros.
Television, most recently serving as Vice-President of scripted
television for the cable and streaming division of Warner Horizon
before it merged with Warner Bros. TV in 2020.
About BET Studios Principal
Partners
BET Studios will operate with nimble teams of dedicated staff
for Mr. Barris, Ms. Jones and Mr. Thomas. This group will utilize
the BET and larger ViacomCBS infrastructure and shared services to
support day-to-day tactics. BET Studios will be led by newly
appointed General Manager, Aisha Summers-Burke, with Kenya Barris,
Rashida Jones and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas serving as principals, and a
broad array of creative talent that will partner with BET to launch
the venture.
Kenya Barris is an award-winning writer, producer, and
director. Barris created the Netflix original comedy #BlackAF and
the multiseries “-ish” franchise, which includes ABC’s Peabody
Award-winning sitcom Black-ish and spin-off series Mixed-ish and
Grown-ish, which airs on Freeform. Most recently, Barris co-wrote
Coming 2 America, the highly anticipated sequel to John Landis’
1980s classic starring Eddie Murphy. In 2018, he was honored with
the ACLU Bill of Rights Award, followed by being presented the 2019
Visionary Award from the Producers Guild of America and the Voice
for Change Award from the Humanitas Prize.
Rashida Jones is an actress, director, writer, and
filmmaker. As a filmmaker, Jones executive produced the Emmy
nominated Hot Girls Wanted and the follow up Netflix series Turned
On. In 2018, her documentary Quincy, about her father, Quincy
Jones, debuted on Netflix and won the GRAMMY® Award for Best Music
Film the next year. Alongside her partner Will McCormack, their
company Le Train Train executive produced the hit dramedy series
CLAWS, which premiered on TNT in 2017.
Aaron Rahsaan Thomas is an acclaimed television and film
screenwriter and producer from Kansas City, Kansas. Most recently,
Thomas was the co-creator and co-showrunner of the procedural
series reboot of S.W.A.T., which airs on Friday nights on CBS and
has worked on NBC’s Friday Night Lights—for which he received a
Peabody Award and two NAACP Image Award nominations—as well as CBS
series, like Numb3rs and CSI: NY. He has also served as a
Co-Executive Producer on TNT’s SouthLAnd, Fox’s Sleepy Hollow,
Netflix's The Get Down and directed an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary,
Trojan War.
About BET
BET, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC), is
the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music,
news, and public affairs television programming for the
African-American audience. The primary BET channel is in 90 million
households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the
Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa, and France. BET
is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse
group of business extensions including BET+, the preeminent
streaming service for the Black audience; BET.com, a leading
Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and
news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the
African-American Woman; BET Music Networks - BET Jams, BET Soul and
BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing
festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and
video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which
operates BET around the globe.
VIAC-IR
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210915005715/en/
Mia Scott-Aime mia.scott@bet.net
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