It’s been rumored for months, but now it’s official: black-ish creator Kenya Barris is moving from ABC to Netflix after signing a multi-year production deal with the streamer.
Netflix announced the news on Thursday, with Barris set to write and executive-produce all projects exclusively for the streaming service through his production company Khalabo Ink Society. Barris has “continually demonstrated his ability to tell stories about the black experience that resonate with all audiences,” per the official release from Netflix.
“Kenya Barris is one of our great modern storytellers,” Netflix vice president of original content Cindy Holland said in a statement. “Kenya uses his voice to make audiences more aware of the world around them, while simultaneously making them laugh. His honesty, comedic brilliance and singular point of view, combined with the creative freedom he will enjoy at Netflix, promises to create powerful new stories for all our members around the world.”
Barris has already stepped down as showrunner of the Emmy-nominated black-ish, which enters its fifth season this fall on ABC. He is also the creator of the black-ish spinoff grown-ish, which debuted on Freeform earlier this year, and has a deal in place for a new Freeform comedy titled Besties. He will reportedly remain as an executive producer on all of his ABC/Freeform shows.
Barris is just the latest big name to defect to Netflix: He joins Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy as high-profile TV producers who switched from major networks to the streaming giant in the past year.
