Original Productions & Hudlin Entertainment in First-Look Deal

March 2, 2023 Jamie Stalcup

Fremantle’s Original Productions has secured a first-look deal with Hudlin Entertainment, helmed by producer and director Reginald Hudlin (Marshall, Django Unchained) and producer Byron Phillips (Primetime Emmy Awards, Oscars).

Hudlin and Phillips will executive produce non-scripted projects resulting from the new partnership. Original Productions previously collaborated with Hudlin and Phillips on the docuseries Phat Tuesdays: The Era of Hip-Hop Comedy.

Phat Tuesdays celebrated the untold story of black comedians at The Comedy Store in ’90s Los Angeles. It featured Anthony Anderson, Dave Chappelle, Snoop Dogg, Tiffany Haddish, Steve Harvey and Regina King, all helping to tell the story of how Guy Torry launched an all-Black comedy night.

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“When we began our collaboration on Phat Tuesdays, it was exciting to see that Reggie and Byron shared a sensibility for the kind of big, bold storytelling that has been the hallmark of our evolution at OP,” said Jeff Hasler, president of Original Productions. “The deeper we got into our collaboration and discussing new ideas, the more motivated we all became about finding a way to let our partnership flourish. Continuing to support Reggie and Byron’s unique voice and perspective on the kind of stories we all want to tell is a dream come true for us at OP.”

“We had a great experience making Phat Tuesdays with Fremantle, and it felt like a no brainer to expand our relationship,” Hudlin said. “While we were finishing that project, we kept coming up with new ideas that we were excited to collaborate on. I’m looking forward to what’s next.”

Phillips added, “We are thrilled to enter into a partnership with Fremantle/OP. Jennifer Mullin and Jeff Hasler have been so supportive of our creative vision and the range of content we look forward to producing. It is rare to find executives that do everything in their power to clear the obstacles that get in the way of the creative process. Jen and Jeff are both unique executives and extraordinary human beings.”