BET Plus will debut its latest Tyler Perry-produced series, Tyler Perry's Zatima, this September, according to a new trailer for the drama series.

The 10-episode series, a spinoff of Perry's Sistas, debuts September 29 and follows that series' popular character Zac, (Devale Ellis) and Fatima (Crystal Renee Hayslett) as they navigate the ups and downs of their relationship, said BET Plus officials.

The series also stars Cameron Fuller, Remington Hoffman, Nzinga Imani, Jasmin Brown, Guyviaud Joseph and Danielle LaRoach. 

Zatima is produced by Tyler Perry Studios, with Perry serving as executive producer, director and writer, said BET Plus.■

BET has renewed original, Tyler Perry-produced series The Oval and Sistas for new seasons, the network said Tuesday.

The Oval, which follows the exploits of the the First Family and staff at the White House, will return for a fourth season. The series, which stars Ed Quinn, Kron Moore, Javon Johnson, Ptosha Storey, Vaughn Hebron and Teesha Renee, averaged 1.3 million viewers on a Nielsen Live+3 basis during its third season, according to the network. 

The Oval's season three finale airs March 23, said BET.

Sistas will return for a fifth season and will continue to follow a group of single Black females navigating their careers, friendships and love lives, according to the network. Sistas for its fourth season averaged 1.6 million viewers in Nielsen Live+3 ratings across BET And BET Her, reported the network. The series stars KJ Smith, Mignon, Ebony Obsidian, Novi Brown, Crystal Renee' Hayslett and Devale Ellis.

New seasons of both series will begin production this spring at Tyler Perry Studios. ■ 

Black women may not run the world yet, but they are certainly making their mark in several scripted series that explore the complexities of female friendships. 

In Starz’s new series Run The World, BET’s veteran show Sistas and BET Plus’s First Wives Club, with ABC’s series reboot of Waiting to Exhale in the offing, the camaraderie between girlfriends seems to be appealing to all viewers. 

“Black women continue to occupy an important and seminal space in culture, and our point of view is unique but also universal in terms of our struggles and our stories,” BET scripted programming head Traci Blackwell said. “Your sistagirl group is usually one of the most important relationships in your life, and I think those stories continue to be relevant to audiences.”

While the genre is not new — 1990s broadcast TV shows Girlfriends and Living Single were successful in exploring the dynamics of Black female friendships — Starz president of original programming Christina Davis said this new wave of shows goes more in-depth into not only the relationships themselves, but the culture which influences the character storylines. Davis said Starz’s Run the World, which launched last month and follows four 30-something, professional Black female friends as they deal with career and relationship challenges, incorporates the rich culture, sights and sounds of Harlem as an important backdrop for the storyline.

“You can point to a couple of shows that have scratched the surface, but I think we go deeper than anything that we’ve seen before,” she said. “I also think the appetite for such shows is overwhelming in a great way.” 

BET’s Sistas, produced by Tyler Perry, returned for its third season June 9 having averaged a network-high 1.4 million total viewers on a Nielsen Live-Plus-3 basis during its second season. The series follows a group of single Black women as they navigate their career, friendships and relationship goals. 

Shows like Sistas and First Wives Club, a takeoff on the 1996 movie that’s now in its second season, serve as a window into lives of diverse female relationships that aren’t often represented on television, according to Blackwell.

Other scripted series, like HBO’s Insecure and OWN’s Delilah, explore the bonds between Black female friends as part of broader storylines within the show. But executives say the overarching theme of maintaining that close and often unbreakable bond — even as it’s tested in a variety of ways — resonates with viewers. 

“I think television owes it to the viewers to give back to them moments of their own lives,” said Craig Wright, creator of Delilah, which examines the strength of a long friendship between two lawyers even as they face off in court. “It’s the lived moments that make viewers say that’s just like what happened to me or she’s just like my sister or friend.” 

The genre doesn’t show signs of slowing down: ABC has given a script commitment to Waiting to Exhale, a reboot of the 1995 Lee Daniels film that starred Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Lela Rochon and Loretta Devine. BET’s Blackwell says shows examining the complexities of friendships between women will always find an audience on television. 

“For women, and particularly Black women, relationships, family, raising kids, dating challenges, religion and spirituality are all things that touch the group in really interesting ways in terms of how we relate,” she said. “The story of that female bond continues to be really important and feels relatable to all of us.” 

TV programming veteran Traci Blackwell is leaving her position as BET Networks EVP of scripted programming, the network has confirmed.

Blackwell joined BET in 2019 and oversaw the African-American targeted network’s original scripted programming functions, including development and casting. Under Blackwell's tutelage, the network offers 14 scripted series alone across platforms, including Lena Waithe's Twenties, Tyler Perry's Sistas, Will Packer's Bigger and Tracy Oliver's First Wives Club.

Read also: BET Sets June Date for 'Sistas' Season Three Premiere

Prior to BET, Blackwell worked at the CW where she most recently served as senior vice president of current programs for the network. 

The network said it will announce a new scripted leadership team shortly. 

BET Networks President Scott Mills announced Blackwell's departure in an internal memo Tuesday lauding Blackwell's leadership, especially during the pandemic.

"Traci has done fantastic work leading BET’s Scripted Programming team during one of the most challenging periods in production history – the COVID-19 pandemic," he said. "We have been tremendously fortunate to have had her leadership, and we are grateful that she leaves us very well positioned for the future."

Blackwell in a memo thanked Mills and BET for the opportunity to lead the network's programming operations. "I am very appreciative to Scott for the incredible opportunity to lead Team Scripted as we worked to produce an unprecedented amount of scripted content for the BET brand," she said. "Being in the trenches with such amazing people who showed up daily and who I have had the privilege to also learn from, has been the most remarkable part of this journey."

In a recent Multichannel News interview, Blackwell talked about the challenges of developing successful original programming in a very crowded television environment.

“You really have to rely on really great storytellers and continue to work with excellent producers and push the content out there, but it is very challenging,” she said. “We are all working on a lot of the same things on different platforms and it’s tricky -- it’s quite the challenge for everybody.“ 

Below is the full text of Mills' memo: 

Our friend and colleague, Traci Blackwell, will be leaving BET this month. Traci has done fantastic work leading BET’s Scripted Programming Team during one of the most challenging periods in production history – the COVID-19 pandemic. 

And, a lesser known fact is that BET leads the industry in the creation of Black scripted content by volume—in fact, we’ve brought forth 14 scripted series in 2021 alone; including series from Tyler Perry, Will Packer, Tracy Oliver, Lena Waithe, Tracey Edmonds, Carl Weber and more.  Never before has BET commissioned this many scripted series.

The only thing more impressive than the volume of series the team has delivered, is the incredible quality of each series.  We salute Traci and our team of incredibly creative professionals for this remarkable contribution to BET and the industry at large.

We have been tremendously fortunate to have had her leadership, and we are grateful that she leaves us very well positioned for the future.

We will be announcing new leadership of the scripted team shortly. In the meantime, please see a personal message from Traci below.

Please join me in thanking Traci for the profound impact she leaves on our brand and wishing her even more success in her next endeavors, while we lend our full support to our Scripted team members throughout this transition.

Blackwell's comments appear below:

During my time here, I’ve been blessed to work alongside the most amazing colleagues and team. I am very appreciative to Scott for the incredible opportunity to lead Team Scripted as we worked to produce an unprecedented amount of scripted content for the BET brand. While 2020 and Covid-19 proved to be challenging, to say the least, the BET family worked tirelessly and selflessly. Being in the trenches with such amazing people who showed up daily and who I have had the privilege to also learn from, has been the most remarkable part of this journey. To my team: You are the ABSOLUTE BEST!! I am proud of the impact we’ve made on our talent partners and thankful to have worked with some of the most inspiring creators and executives in our business.  I want to thank all of the many departments and their leaders across the BET house for your unyielding support of the scripted team and the culture to which we all serve with gratitude and honor. I salute you and wish you all good things in the future.
 

In his speech after receiving the TV Academy’s Governor’s Award during the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards Sept. 20, producer/director Tyler Perry referenced his Atlanta megaproduction facility, a 330-acre former Confederate Army base purchased in 2015, which his grandmother and mother could not have imagined being owned by Perry — or any Black producer — in their lifetimes.

“In my grandmother’s quilt there were no patches for Black people on television,” said Perry,  describing a quilt that represented memories from his family history. “Now, whether we know it or not, we are all sewing our own quilts with our thoughts and behaviors, our experiences and our memories.”

Orchestrating the new patches in the ever-expanding Tyler Perry Studios quilt is Michelle Sneed, president of production and development. As Perry’s right hand, Sneed — who initially joined TPS in 2009 and was named to her current position in 2018 after a brief stint with BET — oversees the production of the studios’ prolific lineup of original comedy and drama specials which over the years have bolstered the lineups of such networks as BET, TBS, OWN and streaming services like BET Plus. Sneed, 38, also serves as executive producer of several of the studios’ most popular shows, including The Oval, Sistas, Ruthless and Bruh, as well as Nickelodeon’s Young Dylan. 

Since launching in 2006, Tyler Perry Studios has created more than a dozen scripted series and nearly 25 movies. Its first series, House of Payne, drew a then-cable sitcom record 5.9 million viewers in its June 2007 premiere on TBS and raised eyebrows when the network picked up a then-unprecedented 90-episode order for the series after an initial 10-episode run. Perry in 2019 would extend beyond linear television when he partnered with BET in 2019 to create original content for BET Plus. 

Even the scourge of COVID-19  couldn’t hamper TPS’s momentum. Four months after suspending production in March, the studio was one of the first TV production companies to reopen, producing more than 80 episodes of four shows through September within a strict bubble atmosphere. 

Sneed outlined the strategy behind the studio operation’s busy TV-production business, as well as the future of a still-hurting TV production industry post-pandemic, with Multichannel News. Here’s an edited transcript of the interview. 

MCN: During last month’s Emmys telecast, Tyler Perry was honored with the Governor’s Award. From your perspective, how significant was that moment in time for Perry’s legacy in television?

Michelle Sneed: Tyler never ceases to amaze me. He is always setting new heights for himself. He’s the ultimate dreamer. He’s taught me how to dream, and he’s taught me how to live up to my truth no matter what that is. For them to recognize him as the entertainer that he is is amazing. Just like his speech said, it is already an opportunity to provide truth, to provide something to look at, to provide an example and to provide representation for everyone else just like us who's trying to get their foot in the door and make something amazing happen in this industry. We don't always have the opportunity or the access, and he is living proof that you can do it your way — that you can stick to your guns, dream and work towards that.

MCN: Given the success that Perry had enjoyed over the years, do you feel the industry recognition was late in coming? 

MS: I don’t think it’s late in coming, especially given the events of this year. Tyler is going to do his thing regardless — he didn’t ask for this. He was going to do everything he’s done regardless of whoever is recognizing him for it. So I think this was a good time because we happened to be in a period of extreme civil unrest, and it seems like everybody is trying to jump on board as far as industry-wide equality and opportunity, and I think there’s no better representation of that than him. So I actually think the timing was perfect, and I think that we couldn’t have written it better than this, for him to receive it at this time and during this climate in the U.S.

MCN: When you joined Tyler Perry Studios in 2006, what was your perception of Tyler Perry?

MS: At the time, I was familiar with Tyler Perry because of the stage plays — honestly through watching bootleg [recordings], and that's how I'd heard of Madea [Perry’s popular TV and movie character]. I was first introduced to Tyler Perry’s work through the people who loved Madea and watched the stage plays. I knew from the moment that I met him, even though it was brief, that he was a person who was on a mission and he was laser-focused and nothing could throw him off. I'll just never forget the introduction, and I just could tell that there was a motivation behind everything that he was doing. Tyler is one that runs off of intuition, and also what God says to him. I could see that and I could feel it all. I think anyone who sits down with him for any length of time, whether he’s in a particular creative moment, if he's directing or if he just got finished writing, you kind of catch that. I think I caught it that day. I drank the Kool-Aid and I believed him. 

MCN: At the time Tyler Perry Studios launched, the cable industry was starting to come into its own, but there weren’t a lot of African-American targeted networks, and not a lot of shows reflecting the Black experience. How much of an impact did Tyler Perry Studios have, not only by creating content featuring African-Americans, but also proving to the industry that there’s a sizable audience for that content?

MS: I think Tyler knew in the years he was doing his stage plays and talking directly to the people that this audience existed for the content he was creating. He knew that these stage plays were selling out multiple nights in big cities and in small towns that people don’t even think about or can’t really identify on a map. He went everywhere. I think then he knew that there was this audience out there who craved this content. They’re packing these theaters out, but he wondered how he could extend that experience and take these favorite characters they love on the road and put them on TV. He knew that there was this underrepresentation there, and he knew that he could super-serve this audience, and he did that. So in the beginning, he literally did everything himself: he literally got the lights himself, he literally got the cameras himself, just like these young filmmakers are doing out here. Because of the success [in] the theater, he had the resources to actually buy a warehouse at that time, to actually buy some equipment and to get a local crew. He knew that he was onto something, and the rest is history.

MCN: So let’s talk about that history. Tyler Perry put together a lot of shows with tons of episodes much faster than the industry was used to seeing before. What was behind the strategy of being so prolific in creating content? 

MS: When he first made the transition from the theater to TV, he took those theater skills. So, in live theater, you’re doing everything. You have to quick-change right there in the back, you’ve got to switch out these sets real quick. Everything is kind of real time. So because that was a foundation of his knowledge about any kind of performance production, that was what he knew. So he cut to what he knew and translated that to television. And when he created those first 10 episodes of House of Payne, [TBS] said, ‘What? You did this when? These are all ready at one time? Who does that?’ Without any backing from a major distributor, he did it all on his own. So once he knew that he could do it, there was no stopping him. That became his model, to shoot it the way he knows how and to be as efficient as possible, especially in the beginning when he was putting up his own money for it. But the core of what we do, and the volume and the pace in which we do it, is from theater. He suctioned that and it worked.

MCN: How was his approach to production different from traditional studios?

MS: When I came on, House of Payne was in season five or six and already a very successful, very groundbreaking series. The boom of 1990s Black television series had faded out by the mid-2000s. But here comes Tyler with this new Black family that everybody can relate to, so it was groundbreaking. Even with shows in the ’90s, you didn't see quite an ensemble of characters like this. I think for myself and many of my colleagues, it was jaw-dropping. It was like … who else is doing it? Who else had 100 episodes? Not just other Black people but who else, period? And literally doing everything on his own. It was amazing. When I got there, the first show I worked on was Meet the Browns, and there was an order for 70 episodes. We cranked through those, and the more efficient we got, the more help we got from other professionals joining his team, and we were able to continue to tweak even more and become even more efficient with his style of directing.

MCN: So let's fast-forward to the creation and development of the Tyler Perry Studios production facility. How big of an evolution was that for the company?

MS: I think it was a major evolution for the company. We had success at Greenbriar, the first official film studio, and we thought, ‘How can it get better than this?’ But eventually we had to put up tents and temporary production spaces because we were just running out of room. Of course, Tyler was always 100 steps ahead of us. We were starting to venture into dramas, so he knew that he had to find a space that could support his vision and the growth that he had in mind. He had been poking around for years in Atlanta. It’s a longer story on how he came up with the Fort, but 330 acres later we’re here.

MCN: So with all the success that you guys have had, and Tyler Perry as well, there have also been some criticisms revolving around the portrayal of Black women in his movies and shows at times or calls to bring in more women writers for his shows. How do you answer some of those criticisms?

MS: Everyone has a right to their preferences and criticisms. However, they should be mindful of judging or having preconceived thoughts and ideas about Tyler’s audience. It is important to remember that he was and is loyal to producing content for an audience that everyone else forgot.

MCN: So we go into 2020. At Tyler Perry Studios, you guys are creating content for ViacomCBS networks, including BET as well as its new streaming service BET Plus. Then boom, the pandemic hits. How do you feel the COVID-19 outbreak has affected the television industry in general and Tyler Perry Studios in particular?

MS: Yeah, it hit all right. It was definitely out of the blue for us. Of course we had been seeing the headlines and seeing the updates on COVID while we were on tour with Madea’s Farewell Play [stage production]. We started prepping a few shows by mid-March, and of course as it became more close to us, we started to talk about what we were going to do. As an executive in the industry we were really trying to get a handle on this and really understand what's going on. It didn't matter if you were in L.A. or New York or Atlanta. It didn't matter if you were a high-dollar budget or an indie. It didn't matter, we were all in it at the same time, as well as the rest of the country, whatever industry you are in. 

MCN: When did you consider the possibility of returning to production in the midst of the pandemic? 

MS: I think it was March 13 that we had to lay everyone off. It was gut-wrenching because we were in prep and everybody thinks they're about to shoot, and then we're like, ‘It's not going to happen? People just aren't going to be able to do what they love? We're not going to have any new content on TV?’ That's unacceptable. It was about five or six days after everyone was sent home when Tyler said, ‘We need a bubble.’ We didn't think much about it, but of course Tyler never stops. He started reaching out to everyone he could, the Sanjay Guptas of the world and all of these experts.

MCN: Tyler Perry Studios was one of the first to get back to work. What protocols did you put in place to assure that the actors and production people remained healthy? 

MS: For us, April and May were just literally trying to get all the information that we can by getting on the phone with the unions and the guilds. We were, quite frankly, ahead of everyone at that time. We became leaders in returning to work for the industry without even meaning to. We’re having these conversations with our distribution partners to determine what was realistic. If we build a bubble, how do we make people feel like they’re not in jail? How do we have everybody with different diets? How do we get food inside of this bubble? How do we keep everyone literally from leaving? We came up with a 30-plus-page document — just literally a brain dump of everything that we know, that we would want ourselves to have access to. That’s how we approached it.

MCN: At its height, how many people were in the bubble? 

MS: Over the summer, we ran three different camps, and I think the most we had at one time was 388.

MCN: Wow. During that period, did anyone test positive?

MS: No, thank God. At this point to date — we test every Monday and Thursday — we’ve taken over 14,000 tests. Of those 14,000 tests we’ve had 16, well actually now, as of yesterday, we’ve had 17 positive cases. All of those positive cases were either in prep, meaning when people go home but not in the camp, or when we do the sequestering period, which is so important. When you check into the camp, you have to go through the series of sanitizing your luggage, getting tested and then you are taken one by one to your room and you are sequestered in your room until everyone’s results come back. So you could be in your room anywhere from eight hours to 24 hours. 

But, of course, we bring you food throughout, you have a stocked refrigerator as soon as you’re checked in, you have snacks. We feed everyone every two hours. So all of that’s taken care of. And you’re in your room with cable and a smart TV with Netflix. So during that period, we have had positive cases, when people were sequestered. Once the positive cases are revealed, we safely get those people off the campus, get their room completely sanitized, and then that’s it. By the way, we don’t allow anyone to come into the campus. So once the campus is closed, no one can come in.

MCN: How do you see the television industry evolving after the pandemic, and how will Tyler Perry Studios fit into whatever new normal comes about?

MS: I definitely see the industry evolving in the sense that even after COVID is gone, and hopefully that’s soon, I think that there are certain practices that we may want to keep. Who knows what the next COVID is, or how that looks? I think that just like other industries, we’re asking questions like, does every resource need to physically be on campus, or at the set, or at the studio or whatever your scenario is? So I think that as an industry as a whole, and as a country as a whole, we’re all looking at that. 

Also, some of these roles that are more administrative, are those permanently now work-from-home opportunities? Is crew grouping important in general? Is zoning important in general? Are these the practices that we want to have anyway after COVID is gone? Does it make us more efficient? If something were to break out again, does it help us in the long run? So I think that we’re all asking these kinds of questions and certainly looking at ways to be more efficient. 

I say all of that to say that, looking ahead, there’s nothing that we cannot do. For us to be able to shoot 82 episodes this summer, and still stay on our production budget of things and still be able to do our work as good as we did it before, if not better — that just says so much. So I think as an industry we’ll have renewed passion for what we do. At the end of the day, I think that it will have a profound positive impact on everyone in the industry. 

BET will bring back drama series Tyler Perry’sSistas and Tyler Perry’s The Oval for sophomore campaigns.

Production for The Oval, which tells of a family placed in the White House by people of power, and Sistas, which follows the lives of a group of single black females, will begin in July, according to the network.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with Tyler Perry and for the renewals of our two Wednesday night programming staples, The Oval and Sistas," said Scott Mills, president of BET in a statement. “BET is committed to investing in quality programming from top industry power players and giving viewers more of the content they love and expect from the brand across our platforms.”

Director/producer Tyler Perry will develop two additional original series for the BET+ streaming service to launch in early 2020, BET officials said.

The first of the two exclusive BET+ series, Tyler Perry’s Bruh, examines the world of dating, career, and friendship in a present-day society for a group of 30-something-year-old college friends. The second series, Tyler Perry’s Ruthless is a spin-off of BET’s drama series Tyler Perry’s The Oval and follows a young woman into the dark underworld of a fanatical religious cult, said the service.

The two series are part of Perry’s multi-year development deal with Viacom and BET. 

“Our landmark partnership with Tyler Perry is off to a fantastic start with the breakout success of The Oval, the number one new scripted series on cable, and Sistas,” said Scott Mills, president of BET Networks in a statement. “We’re thrilled that Tyler has created these two exciting new series exclusively for our rapidly growing streaming service, BET+. Bruh and Ruthless will join BET+’s other hit original series, including Tracy Oliver’s First Wives Club, Will Packet’s Bigger and BET’s American Gangster, and allow us to continue to super serve our subscribers’ demand for premium original African American content.”

RELATED: BET Readies Streaming Service

BET’s debut of two original series from prolific producer/creator Tyler Perry heads up the list of new programming hitting TV screens this week.

Perry’s Oct. 23 premiere of dramas The Oval and Sistas are part of the African-American-targeted network’s multi-year production deal with the director. 

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting this week on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Oct. 21 -- Catherine the Great (miniseries) -- HBO

Oct. 21 -- Rock the Block (reality competition series) -- HGTV

Oct. 22 -- The Misery Index (game show) -- TBS

Oct. 23 -- Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (reality series) -- Netflix

Oct. 23 -- Castle Rock (returning series) -- Hulu

Oct. 23 -- The Cry (miniseries) -- SundanceTV

Oct. 23 -- Dancing with the Birds (documentary) -- Netflix

Oct. 24 -- Daybreak (drama/horror) -- Netflix

Oct. 25 -- BoJack Horseman (animation) -- Netflix

Oct. 25 -- The Kominsky Method (returning series) -- Netflix

Oct. 27 -- Mrs. Fletcher (miniseries) -- HBO

Oct. 27 -- Silicon Valley (returning series) -- HBO

BET has greenlit a new series from producer/director Tyler Perry dubbed Sistas, the network said Thursday.

The series, the second show created under BET owner Viacom’s exclusive multi-year partnership deal with Perry, follows a group of single black females from different walks of life who bond over why they are single, according to BET. 

Sistas, which will premiere later this fall, stars J Smith, Ebony Obsidian, Mignon Von, and Novi Brown. Principal photography for Sistas is underway at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.

BET in June announced the development of Perry’s first original series for the network, The Oval.