Since being introduced to Issa Rae’s web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” we here at VIBE have been wishing that someone would give Rae a deal and the resources to take her show national. The popular and original content, whose biting, original, low-budget appeal has earned a well-deserved following seemed destined to forever live on the web. Now, Shonda Rhimes, one of the few women and few African Americans who can get a network to greenlights anything she wants, has found a way to do precisely that. Through her Shondaland production company, Rhimes has set up and sold Rae’s new series, “I Hate L.A. Dudes,” to ABC.
With Rhimes busy shepherding three series created by her, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal, she and her producing partner at Shondaland, Betsy Beers, will executive produce “I Hate L.A. Dudes,” which centers on an aspiring journalist, new to Los Angeles. The new journo quickly becomes the lone female voice on a budding, male-driven Internet talk radio show, who learns how to decode the exasperating rules of the L.A. dating scene. Rae, repped by UTA, 3 Arts and John Meigs, is writing and co-executive producing the project. For Shonda Rhimes and her ilk, expanding into comedy has been a major priority for Shondaland, which has consistently established its brand in drama.
Props: Deadline