Debra Martin Chase is joining forces with Universal Television. The film and TV producer, whose credits include “The Princess Diaries” and “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” has signed a multi-year first-look deal at Universal Television. The pact sees her developing new projects for network, cable, and streaming services via her Martin Chase Productions, Deadline reports.
The two-time Emmy nominee has a number of projects in the works, including “Get Christie Love,” a spy drama with a pilot production commitment at ABC, and “White People Problems,” a dramedy at Universal Cable Productions and Bravo. Chase is also producing “The Black Calhouns,” a new historical miniseries based on Gail Lumet Buckley’s nonfiction book of the same name for ABC. Buckley, daughter of actress Lena Horne, traced her family history from the Civil War to the civil rights movement.
Martin is also producing an upcoming biopic of abolitionist Harriet Tubman starring Tony winner Cynthia Erivo (“The Color Purple”).
“After 20 years of fan-girling over the work of Debra Martin Chase, nothing gives me greater satisfaction than to woo her to Universal Television,” Universal TV president Pearlena Igbokwe said. “She is a consummate producer who brings a wealth of experience and talent to her work. We feel very lucky.”
Chase added, “I have known and admired Pearlena Igbokwe for many years. I am thrilled to be working with her and her wonderfully talented team and to be a part of the exciting success that Universal Television is enjoying.”
“I look for the message, and the essence of what the material is about,” Chase has said of the projects she chooses. “It’s got to mean something. It doesn’t have to be weighty, and certainly not preachy.”
