Onyx Collective on Hulu has ordered “The Plot,” a limited series from Endeavor Content with Mahershala Ali attached as executive producer and star. Abby Ajayi will adapt the eight-episode series from Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel of the same name.
Ali plays Jake, a struggling author who is primed to take advantage of any opportunity that might help revive his career. When a once in a lifetime opportunity presents itself, Jake commits an act of literary theft that changes his life. “The Plot” follows Jake’s attempts to protect himself and the life he’s built as he’s threatened by someone who knows his secret.
Executive producers include Ali, Mimi Valdés and Amatus Karim Ali through their company Know Wonder, Layne Eskridge’s POV Entertainment and Kristen Campo through their respective deals with Endeavor Content, Hanff Korelitz and Ajayi, who also serves as showrunner. The series will stream on Hulu in the U.S., Star Plus in Latin America and Disney Plus in all other territories.
“I was captivated with Hanff Korelitz’s book, ‘The Plot’ and Abby’s distinct point of view reinvents the story in a way that spoke to me and our mission at Onyx Collective, said Tara Duncan, president of Freeform and Onyx Collective. “There are so many interesting angles and nuances, that having the creative genius that is Mahershala Ali at the center of this mystery, is just a dream. Kristen and Layne have done a phenomenal job bringing this team together and I could not be more proud to work alongside them and Endeavor Content to bring this incredible series to our global audience.”
“Hollywood is still not greenlighting enough projects with multidimensional Black characters, stories that simply focus on our humanity. The rarity of a straight-to-series order, especially for BIPOC projects, is not lost on us,” said Valdés. “We are beyond humbled to work with such an amazing team of collaborators to bring this incredible book to life.”
Onyx Collective is Disney’s content brand dedicated to programming from artists of color and underrepresented voices.