Tracy Oliver and Issa Rae are joining forces again. The two are co-creating Open, a new hourlong drama series that has already generated seven offers after being taken out, Deadline reports. The project is produced by Paramount Television Studios under Rae’s first-look deal there.
The pairing is a reunion years in the making. The two Stanford alumnae first connected in college, where they were both Black women auditioning for the same theater roles. That shared experience sparked a creative partnership that produced The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl, the viral YouTube web series Oliver and Rae co-created, produced and starred in together beginning in 2011. The series became the precursor to Rae’s acclaimed HBO comedy Insecure. The two later reunited on the 2019 comedy film Little, which Oliver wrote and Rae starred in. Open marks their first co-creation since Awkward Black Girl.
In Open, when a married couple who did everything right open their marriage to save it, the decision sends shockwaves through their Houston friend group, igniting affairs, exposing secrets and forcing everyone to confront the lies holding their relationships together.
Oliver will serve as showrunner and executive produce alongside Rae and Jax Clark via Rae’s Hoorae banner, Brian Dobbins for Artists First and David Becky and Jonathan Berry for 3 Arts Entertainment.
The news comes as both Oliver and Rae are among the busiest women in Hollywood right now. Oliver is writing and executive producing Hilary, the Bel-Air spinoff starring Coco Jones at Peacock, and has The Wedding Date at Netflix, Girls Trip 2, The Blackening 2, Paper Gods at Netflix, Not a Happy Family at Starz and holiday film Deck the Y’alls starring Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain all in the works. Rae, meanwhile, has just received an HBO pilot order for an untitled male friendship comedy set in the world of Vegas boxing, written and executive produced by Rae with Insecure collaborator Prentice Penny returning as showrunner and director. As an actor, she will next be seen in Babies, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Oliver made history as the first Black woman to write a film that grossed more than $100 million with Girls Trip in 2017. She also created and executive produced First Wives Club and Harlem. Rae is known for creating, headlining and showrunning HBO’s Insecure, which earned 14 Emmys and a Peabody over its five-season run.
No network home for Open has been announced.