Issa Rae
Issa Rae is making the transition to cable with the help of comedian and host of The Nightly Show, Larry Wilmore. The two will be collaborating to bring Rae’s office comedy, Insecure, to HBO.
Rae rose to fame with her ultra-successful 2010 web series, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, which details life as a Black woman as she navigates corporate America, dating and friends. The project had an estimated 20 million viewers and put Rae’s career on the fast track.
In her new HBO comedy, Rae will star as the protagonist Issa Dee. She’ll also write and serve as co-executive producer for the series. Yvonne Orji, Lisa Joyce and Jay Ellis from BET’s The Game are among the show’s cast.
https://twitter.com/IssaRae/status/654811926325653504
Orji plays Issa’s best friend, Molly, who is very successful in her corporate work life, but very unsuccessful in her love life while Ellis plays Lawrence, Issa’s depressed and unemployed boyfriend who has been getting his act together for four year. Joyce plays Frieda, Issa’s liberal and empathetic co-worker at an educational non-profit firm.
The pilot was ordered in February of this year, making Insecure one of many of HBO’s female centric shows. It was directed by Melina Matsoukas, who has directed music videos since 2006 for artists like Beyoncé, Rhianna, Ne-Yo and many others.
A release date for the series has yet to be announced.
