BET Picks Up Lena Waithe’s ‘Twenties’ Comedy Series
There’s great news for Lena Waithe fans.
The Emmy Award-winning actress, writer, and producer’s comedy series Twenties recently got acquired by BET, as Shadow and Act reports.
“When they tell you to give up on your dreams… don’t listen. So grateful to my @bet family and this phenomenal cast and crew. And our writers room is next level! #Twenties is coming in 2020! God’s timing is never late,” Waithe wrote on Instagram today (Apr. 15) where she announced the exciting news.
The single-camera comedy consists of eight episodes and was originally in development at TNT where a pilot was ordered but didn’t move forward as a series.
The official description reads: Created and written by Waithe when she was in her early 20s the eight-episode half-hour series, follows the adventures of a queer Black girl, Hattie, and her two straight best friends, Marie and Nia, who spend most of their days talking ‘ish’ and chasing their dreams. Twenties is a scripted show about friendship, finding love, and messing everything up along the way.
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 10: Creator/Executive producer Lena Waithe and actor Jason Mitchell attend Showtime’s “The Chi” For Your Consideration at Silver Screen Theater at the Pacific Design Center on April 10, 2019 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
“BET Networks is thrilled to partner once again with the creative visionary Lena Waithe on both BOOMERANG and TWENTIES as she is without a doubt a leading relevant voice of our generation and a disruptor in her own right,” said Connie Orlando, head of Programming, BET Networks. “BET is committed to the elevation of inclusive and authentic storytelling that viewers continue to expect from the brand.”
Twenties is executive produced by Waithe, Suan Fales-Hill, Rishi Rijani, and Andrew Coles.
“Twenties has been a project I’ve been dreaming about for as long as I can remember. I think a lot of people were interested but didn’t see the vision. I’m so grateful Scott Mills and Connie Orlando did. I couldn’t be more excited to deepen my relationship with BET. I know audiences have been waiting a long time for this one,” said Waithe.
“I’m deeply grateful to Lena Waithe for dragging me out of the crypt to run her groundbreaking series about women of color who are as intelligent as they are funny, as ambitious and driven as they are confused. It is exhilarating to be back in television, at BET at a moment of unprecedented multicultural inclusion in the entertainment industry,” said Fales-Hill.
2019 seems to be a great year for multi-hyphenate.
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 11: Executive producers Lena Waithe and Halle Berry attend the Viacom Winter TCA 2019 panel on February 11, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Viacom)
Waithe’s and Halle Berry’s Boomerang television series just also got renewed for a second season on BET, and Waithe just joined the cast of Westworld season 3. She’s also the executive producer of Showtimes’s The Chi and she’s producing new upcoming film Queen & Slim, which is set at Universal.
Glennisha Morgan is a Detroit-bred multimedia journalist and writer. She writes about intersectionality, hip-hop, pop culture, queer issues, race, feminism, and her truth. Follow her on Twitter.
