Will & Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Teams with EbonyLife

Westbrook Studios, founded by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, and EbonyLife Studios in Nigeria have partnered for a multi-project slate of co-produced film and television projects, each connected to the African continent.

Under the partnership, the two studios will produce two series and one film project, ranging from a cosmopolitan female dramedy to an Afrofuturistic adventure series. The projects include Dada Safaris, an Afropolitan dramedy series that follows four best friends who, after finding themselves at personal and career dead ends, take a leap to the wild side when one of them inherits her late husband’s long-forgotten family-owned safari lodge.

In The Gods, a pair of married Cambridge professors set out to find answers to a surge of natural disasters, but find seven long-forgotten African gods instead. Enlisting the help of two divine African children who can communicate with the immortals, the team must find the secret behind the awakening of the gods before the world as they know it is forever changed.

Are We Getting Married? is a comedy feature set in the U.S. and tells the story of the daughter of a wealthy Nigerian family who falls in love with a nerdy but charming African American from Atlanta and their decision to get married.

The deal, the first of its kind for Westbrook Studios in Africa, is representative of the studio’s larger mission to work as a creative and commercial catalyst with best-in-class creators, producers, and content platforms in bringing diverse stories and characters to life for global audiences.

Eli Shibley, Westbrook Studios’ senior VP and head of international TV and film, said: “As we set out to focus our initial slate of international content for the Studio business across a diversified set of key territories and regions, the creative energy and world-class artistry coming out of Africa is absolutely undeniable. We are thrilled to be working with a best-in-class producer like Mo and her EbonyLife team to tell stories that uniquely celebrate African characters and perspectives and resonate with fans of great film and television around the world.”

EbonyLife CEO Mo Abudu said: “We all dream of lofty goals becoming a reality, then one day those dreams come true. I’m proud to announce that our vision of EbonyLife Studios being in partnership with Will and Jada’s Westbrook Studios is now real. Westbrook’s goal is to create and curate powerful and inclusive content. This is completely in line with our vision at EbonyLife: to tell global African stories from our perspective. Together, we will be developing a slate of projects that reflect our shared goals. We are beyond excited!”