Akil Productions, Breakdown Productions, Will Packer Productions, BET; CBS Paramount Network Television UPN, The CW; Harpo Films, OWN, Warner Horizon
Named by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the top 50 Showrunners five years in a row, Mara Brock Akil began her journey to Hollywood at Northwestern University. There she penned and acted in a sketch comedy show for Northwestern's Black Student Union, was the lead in a production of The Colored Museum, and studied screenwriting.
Inspired by A Different World, The Cosby Show and Fresh Prince of Bel Air Akil left Northwestern and a job at The Gap, to move to Los Angeles, getting her start as a production assistant on The Sinbad Show (1993). She then moved up the writing ranks on South Central, The Jamie Fox Show, and for four years, she wrote for UPN’s Moesha, where she got to experience all facets of production–writing, casting, editing, mixing and more.
At age 29, she was asked to create her own series. She wanted to create a series that better represented her and her friends, less sitcom, something sexier and edgier. Akil sold the idea for Girlfriends to UPN, but was turned down by every film company to produce. She finally struck a deal with Kelsey Grammer, who was signed on as executive producer, as part of his development deal with Paramount Pictures. Girlfriends (2000–2008) chronicled the lives of four Black women – Joan (Ross), Maya (Golden Brooks), Lynn (Persia White) and Toni (Jill Marie Jones) – as they took on careers, dating, and friendship together. Built on laughs and often awkward encounters (Joan!) the show went on to tackle issues like colorism, HIV and AIDS, Black women and fibroids, domestic violence, gender politics and sexuality. Behind the scenes Akil tackled and fought for representation, from casting to hair texture to dialog. Her hard won fights were in order to better reflect the natural beauty of Black women and authentically tell their stories. Girlfriends was Akil’s response to Black women excluded from the Sex and the City conversation. The show ran for eight seasons (172 episodes), survived the production switch from UPN to The CW, but, like many shows, was prematurely cancelled as a result of the 2008 Writers Strike.
While heartbreaking, wrapping her first series did not slow Akil down. She went on to create Girlfriends’ spin-off, the successful sitcom, The Game (2006–2015) starring Tia Mowry, about the wives, girlfriends, and mothers of NFL players from the star athletes to the newbie rookies. Followed by the critically acclaimed drama, Being Mary Jane (2013–2019), her first hour-long scripted series. The show chronicled the life of Mary Jane Paul, Gabrielle Union, who attempts to make her personal life as successful as her professional life–addressing the statistic that 42% of successful women within the Black community will never marry. Akil later extended her talents to the superhero genre with Black Lightning (2018-2021) for the CW, and the romantic drama, Love Is (2018), for the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Of all her shows, Girlfriends is still on repeat on my screen, believing in friends through thick and thin and finding it impossible to resist the awkwardness of Joan, the free-spiritedness of Lynn (who was also the first vegan I saw on TV), the confidence of Maya, and the fabulousness of Toni. The show’s lasting legacy continues to be seen in breakout hits like HBO’s Insecure, created by and starring Issa Rae, who has cited Girlfriends and Living Single as influences “When I see what Issa and that cast has done and what they are doing, I am more than proud,” Akil says. “They took the baton and they are running their lap.”
Whether fighting for representation, or passing the baton, Akil has proven that her shows are not only entertaining and successful, they also build networks–UPN with Girlfriends, BET with Being Mary Jane, and now, with her 2020 mega-deal, she’ll continue to bolster the Netflix roster. She shared her philosophy on how she’s approaching this next chapter to Fader, “By being me. By believing that human stories will connect. By believing that resources and marketing will make them come and they will stay for the story, that they will see themselves. I expect that the broader audience will be there. I think they want more. I think they’re bored with their own story too. Want to know why ratings are down? They need something new. They need us.”
Her Advice to Writers:
Shared with Vibe, “Number one would be having a vision. What do you want to say? And really knowing why you want to say something, and then creating a world and characters that allow you to say these things. Number two would be character, character, character! You need to develop that character. You need to know that character backwards, forwards, ins and outs. Personally, I don’t know how you tell a story without knowing your character. Lastly, knowing your craft and knowing the rules before you try to break them.”
Bonus Link: The Cut’s article on Akil’s day to day life that enjoyed but did not cite.