The Atlantic

How Netflix Snagged <em>Black-ish</em> Creator Kenya Barris

The showrunner recently departed ABC for the streaming network, joining the ranks of Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes in the process.
Source: Richard Shotwell / Invision / AP

Star Hollywood writer Kenya Barris climbed the Hollywood ladder for years and had supposedly reached its apex. Beginning with brief writing stints on shows like and , Barris then served as a writer and producer on thesitcom , before creating his own show, , on ABC. It was a critical and commercial hit, and with that came a spinoff ( on Freeform), hit movies () and a production deal with ABC. But in Hollywood, even great success comes with tradeoffs—Barris clashed with ABC over ’s content, and the over “creative differences” last February.

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