Lena Waithe Partners With Amazon Studios for Open-Marriage Drama Series
Written by SOURCE on August 4, 2020
We all know Lena Waithe stays busy. The multi-hyphenate is now in the process of developing a drama series about open marriages with Amazon Studios.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the writer/producer just finished writing the pilot’s draft with the working title Open.
“I’ve never been in an open marriage, but it’s fascinating to me,” Waithe told THR. “We live in a world where, if I told you I cheated on my wife, you would be like, ‘Yeah, that’s the way it goes.’ But if I told you that I’m in an open marriage, it would be as if I told you I’m joining the Church of Scientology.”
Waithe signed a deal with the streaming platform back in 2019. If Open moves on to production, it will be the latest in a list of projects she is working on under her deal. That list includes a horror anthology series titled Them: Covenant, which “follows a Black couple and their move to an all-white Los Angeles neighborhood—where the picturesque street masks malevolent forces both real and supernatural.”
Waithe also has a number of shows outside Amazon Studios, including Showtime’s The Chi and BET’s Boomerang and Twenties. Last month we learned that she recently penned a musical drama called Talent Show, which will star Cynthia Erivo and be released through Universal Pictures.
While Open won’t be Waithe’s first project exploring misunderstood relationships, it certainly could lead the way when it comes to normalizing romance that exists outside of monogamous relationships.
“Society has such a conservative way of looking at marriage,” Waithe told THR while discussing Open. “I do think that we as a nation need to reevaluate what marriage looks like for us as a country—because whatever we have right now, it ain’t working.”
