Ava Duvernay and Warner Television are terminating their entire deal after finalizing the five-year deal she signed in late 2018.
The overall deal ends May 31 and Duvernay will remain focused on her film projects, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It had nothing to do with the ongoing writers’ strike between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, as Duvernay and Warner reached a joint decision months ago before the studios suspended overall writer contracts.
Duvernay signed the deal when Peter Roth was still steering the ship at Warner and the media giant was prioritizing deals with various writers, producers and directors.
“Ava DuVernay is one of the leading figures in our industry, a brilliantly talented writer, producer, director and entrepreneur whose ability to inspire with her art is matched only by her ability to entertain,” said the former Warner Bros ., Peter Roth a statement from that time.
There were claims that Duvernay’s deal was valued at $100 million, but insiders have since said the deal was between $60 million and $80 million.
As part of the deal, Duvernay published Queen Sugar on OWN, CBS’ For Justice, The CW’s Naomi for DC Comics, and Max’s DMZ. Her Netflix series Colin in Black & White and When They See Us” was produced outside of DuVernay’s ARRAY deal with WBTV.
Duvernay’s latest TV project is a romantic series for Starz starring Joshua Jackson and Lauren Ridloff. However, due to the ongoing WGA strike, production of the show was put on hold.
No word on where Duvernay will move her TV deal to. With Roth now serving as a board member on DuVernay’s ARRAY banner, the ‘Wrinkle in Time’ creator could envision a future as her own independent studio without the need for a full-on TV thanks to her deep relationships with networks, studios and streamers around the world -Contract required would be the branch.
The Selma director is currently in post-production on her film Caste, which will star Vera Farmiga, Niecy Nash, Nick Offerman, Jon Bernthal, Audra McDonald and Connie Nielsen, Deadline reports.