Stephanie Allain is coming off her Oscars producing gig with her first TV studio deal. According to Deadline, the veteran producer has inked a multi-year first-look pact with Warner Horizon Scripted Television, under which she’ll “develop new scripted programming for cable and on-demand/streaming services, as well as broadcast networks through the divisions of the Warner Bros. Television Group.”
In 2003 Allain founded Homegrown Pictures, a company dedicated to projects by and about women and people of color, and portraying authentic representation and diverse perspectives. “Collectively, Homegrown Pictures projects have been nominated for over 100 awards and have picked up numerous accolades from the Academy, Film Independent Spirit, Sundance Film Festival, and NAACP Image Awards,” the source details. Homegrown joined Abigail Disney’s startup studio, Level Forward, as a producing pod in 2018.
Allain’s credits include “Dear White People,” “Beyond the Lights,” and “Something New.” Most recently, she produced Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony with Lynette Howell Taylor, making history “as the first African American woman in the Academy’s 92-year history to do so.”
Biopic “The Fighting Shirley Chisholm” and a film adaptation of Misty Copeland’s memoir “Life In Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina” are among the projects on Allain’s upcoming slate. She is also bringing several books to the small screen, such as Shomari Wills’ account of the first African-American millionaires, “Black Fortunes,” and Veronica Chambers’ coming-of-age novel “The Go-Between.”
“I’ve been involved in diversifying Hollywood since before it was hip,” Allain has said. “And we are finally starting to see real change. There was a time when you’d see names on a directors’ list and there would only be white guys on it and no one would even blink. That time is over.”