Oscar-winning “Moonlight” filmmaker Barry Jenkins and his producing partners Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak have signed a first-look television deal with HBO and HBO Max, the WarnerMedia-owned platforms said Thursday.
Under the two-year pact, HBO and HBO Max will have first dibs on small-screen projects developed by Jenkins, Romanski and Ceryak’s production company, PASTEL. As part of the agreement, “Moonlight” studio A24 will executive produce all of PASTEL’s HBO/HBO Max projects and partner with Jenkins’ company on “select projects” outside of the first-look deal.
Jenkins’ PASTEL was previously under a first-look deal with Amazon Studios, which is about to release his limited series “The Underground Railroad.”
PASTEL’s recent projects include the Jenkins-directed “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” and Amazon’s upcoming “The Underground Railroad,” based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and directed by Jenkins. Additionally, PASTEL is working on a biopic of Alvin Ailey for Searchlight Pictures, Disney’s “The Lion King” prequel and the upcoming film “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” for A24, which will mark Raven Jackson’s feature directorial debut.
A24’s notable film credits include Jenkins’ Best Picture winner “Moonlight,” as well as “Minari,” “Lady Bird,” “Midsommar,” “Ex Machina” and “Uncut Gems.” On the TV side, A24 produces Zendaya’s “Euphoria” for HBO, Hulu’s “Ramy,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s upcoming Apple TV+ series “Mr. Corman,” Showtime’s “Ziwe” and “The Curse,” as well as the Netflix anthology series “Beef,” starring Ali Wong and Oscar nominee Steven Yeun.
A24 and HBO are also partnering on an upcoming series adaptation of Olivier Assayas’ “Irma Vep” film, starring Alicia Vikander.
Jenkins and his partners are the latest big-name creatives to sign deals with HBO and HBO Max, following Issa Rae’s announcement of an overall deal with WarnerMedia last week and “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin setting up a five-year pact with HBO last Friday.
Jenkins is represented by CAA, manager Jewerl Ross and attorney Jamie Feldman.