Ava DuVernay and Warner Bros. Television break up.
Tell sources The Hollywood Reporter that the prolific multihyphenate has chosen to end its overall deal with the studio after closing its five-year deal. The wealthy pact, which DuVernay signed in late 2018, officially ends on May 31. Insiders say DuVernay is expected to focus more on her current movie role. It is unclear whether the writer-director-producer is behind it Caste and helmsman of A wrinkle in time is going to set up shop elsewhere with a TV deal.
Sources say the decision by Warners and DuVernay to let the deal expire was a mutual one and was made months ago — before studios suspended blanket deals with writers amid ongoing labor disputes between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios and streamers.
DuVernay signed with Warners when Peter Roth was still running the studio and a time when the industry was adjusting and prioritizing deals with diverse writers, producers and directors. At the time, DuVernay’s deal was valued at $100 million, though sources in recent years note it was more between $60 million and $80 million. Roth is now a board member of DuVernay’s ARRAY banner, which could help point to a future as an independent studio without the need for an overall TV deal given the exec’s deep relationships with networks, studios and streamers across the industry.
DuVernay’s TV output for Warners included that of OWN which recently concluded queen sugar, CBS’ For justiceThe CW’s DC Comics entry Naomi and Max’s DMZ. Her Netflix series, Colin in black and white And If they see uswere produced outside of DuVernay’s ARRAY deal with WBTV.
