Issa Rae says she is continuing to work on building her own studio or a way to control the distribution of her shows, despite the lack of work in Hollywood and the difficulty getting her projects greenlit.
Speaking at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in Manhattan on Thursday, Insecure The star and creator noted that despite her success, several shows she produced, including Rap shit, Sweet life AND A sketch show by a black womanhave been canceled. The current landscape is very challenging, Rae said, adding that he believes the industry is also waiting for the results of the U.S. presidential election.
“The market has changed so much and we're all susceptible to it. There's no one who isn't affected,” Rae said. “And a lot of the conversations even about this movie that we shot in L.A. are just that there's nothing shooting in L.A. right now. And there's not a lot of work. And my email is flooded every week with people saying, 'Hey, if you have anything, I'm available.' It's tough and it's a big, big waiting game in general to figure out what's going to happen to the industry,” Rae said.
“I've had a great, great relationship with the partners that I work with now, and I love working with them. It's just that everybody, every single network, maybe with the exception of Netflix, is indebted to Wall Street right now. And I think after the election, things will change because they will know what's possible in a very, even scary way. The industry is just waiting,” he continued.
Rae currently has a five-year overall deal with what was formerly known as WarnerMedia when she signed the deal in 2021.
In September 2020, the writer and producer launched Hoorae Media, an independent media production company, with the goal of having more control over the projects they produce, with a focus on stories written by Black creators and starring Black talent.
“It's about making sure we have our hands on every part of the process. And that will hopefully eventually lead to a studio, whether it's a network, whether it's some form of distribution, that's the North Star,” Rae said. “But right now it's just about prioritizing these stories a little bit at a time. What I've seen, and what we've all seen just looking at the TV landscape right now, is that there aren't a lot of black stories on the air. And that's something that's always going to be at the core of what we do and who we look at. And I know there aren't a lot of networks or studios out there that feel the same way.”