Janet Mock is making history. The “Pose” director, producer and writer has signed a sweeping deal at Netflix, making her the first out transgender woman empowered to call the creative shots at a major content company.
The three-year multimillion-dollar pact gives the streaming giant exclusive rights to her TV series and a first-look option on feature film projects.
As part of the agreement, Mock will serve as an executive producer and director on Ryan Murphy’s forthcoming Netflix series “Hollywood.” Despite being part of the Netflix family, Mock will be allowed to continue as a writer-director on Murphy’s FX series “Pose,” an LGBTQ drama set in New York City’s competitive ballroom scene.
The Netflix deal will enable Mock to create programs that employ and highlight communities that have historically been ignored by Hollywood — including the intersectional space Mock herself occupies, as a woman of color and a highly visible trans person.
Mock hopes the deal “will be a huge signal boost, industrywide, to empower people and equip them to tell their own stories.”
She is interviewing creative executives for her yet-to-be-named production banner. Projects in development include a college-set drama following a young trans woman, a series about New Orleans after the abolishment of slavery and a reboot of a classic sitcom. Read more via Variety