Mara Brock Akil

Mara Brock Akil
Brock Akil in 2013
Born	(1970-05-27) May 27, 1970 Los Angeles, California, United States
Residence	Beverly Hills, California
Other names	Mara Brock Ali or Mara Brock
Occupation	Screenwriter, producer
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Salim Akil (m. 1999)
Children	Yasin Ali Akil & Nasir Lukmon Akil

Mara Brock Akil (Born: Mara Dionne Brock) is a screenwriter and producer. She was born in Los Angeles, California and was raised primarily in Kansas City. She graduated from Raytown South High School in 1988. She is also a graduate of Northwestern University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and became a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. In fact, Northwestern was the only college Akil applied to because she strongly wanted to become a journalist.^[1] However, after she graduated from Northwestern in 1992, Akil decided to put her career plans in journalism on hold to work as a manager at the Howard Street Gap in Chicago and look for opportunities to work within Chicago's entertainment industry.^[2] She decided to change careers after securing the role of Ms. Moore in the 1994 film With Honors. This role inspired Brock returned to Los Angeles to start her career.

Career

Brock Akil first began her career in 1994 writing for the critically acclaimed but short-lived Fox series South Central. In 1999, she served as supervising producer and writer on The Jamie Foxx Show after writing for Moesha for four seasons. In 2000, Brock Akil created and executive produced (along with Kelsey Grammer) another UPN series, Girlfriends. She also created and executive produced Girlfriends' spin-off series, The Game. In 2009, Brock Akil became a consulting producer and writer for the ABC suburban sitcom Cougar Town. She is the creator of BET's Being Mary Jane, which premiered in 2013.

TV Shows

Girlfriends (2000-2008)

Brock Akil went straight to UPN and sold her idea for her hit series to the network.^[3] She shopped the series around to studios to start the filming process but even through the show sold to a major network no filming company wanted to take the bait. That was until she struck a deal with Kelsey Grammar and his involvement with Paramount pictures was able to sign on as an executive producer for the show. Girfiends premiered on September 11, 2000 and became a part of UPN's Monday night primetime line up. Chronicling the life of Joan Clayton played by Tracee Ellis Ross, and her four friends the show ran for eight seasons lasting through the production switch from UPN and the launch of the CW network. The show's two-part series finale aired on the CW on February 11, 2008.

The Game (2006-2015)

Following the launch of the CW network, Brock Akil created a spin off series to her first show that follows the life of Joan's cousin, Melanie Barnett, played by Tia Mowry. As she places her dreams of being a doctor and moves to San Diego to be a supportive backbone to her boyfriend, professional football player, Derwin Davis played by Pooch Hall. The series ran on the CW network for three seasons until its abrupt ending in 2009. The show was canceled for about two years until it was picked by BET and began filming production in Atlanta. The Game brought in 7.7 million viewers in its season four premier on BET.^[4] After adding six more seasons to the series the network released a statement on their website stating that the show will conclude after production of the seventh and eighth seasons.

Being Mary Jane (2013–present)

With an already established relationship with the BET network, Brock Akil worked alongside her husband to co-write and produce their first show on BET. Being Mary Jane, starring Gabrielle Union premiered July 2, 2013, and became the couple's first hour long scripted. The show chronicles the life of Mary Jane Paul, a successful news anchor, and attempts to address the statistic that within the black community 42 percent of successful women will never marry.^[1]

As of March 2017, Brock Akil left ICM Partners to join CAA.^[5]

Personal life

Early life

Brock Akil was born to Joan Demeter, who divorced her then husband and Brock's father when she was just eight years old and coincidentally became the vision behind Brock Akil's main character in Girlfriends. Demeter left Los Angeles and moved her to Kansas City. Demeter was able to successfully work her way up from an entry level position at Marion Labs to computer programmer while raising Brock Akil and her two siblings, including younger sister actress, Kara Brock.

Religion

Brock Akil's mother advised her children to honor and respect aspects of every faith. Her family were practicing Muslims, and she was born into the Nation of Islam. Her family then became Methodist before becoming members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She and her husband, Salim, currently are practicing Sufi Muslims.

Relationship

She met Salim Akil while working on the set of Moesha and the two married in 1999. Salim also went on to establish a career in the industry as a television director. The couple also has two sons; their first son Yasin Ali Akil was born on April 16, 2004, and their second son Nasir Lukmon Akil was born on November 16, 2009. Between the births of their two sons, in June 2007, Brock Akil and her husband signed to The Weinstein Co. Their first project under their production company will be a film about a woman who starts a business to investigate the mates of a high-powered woman after she herself is left at the altar. Mara Brock Akil will write the screenplay and Salim Akil will direct, reported Variety. The pair’s Happy Camper Productions banner will produce. The couple has established a name for themselves within the entertainment industry but have become an impactful force together. Together the pair created a production company under Salim's surname. Under Akil Productions, Brock Akil worked alongside her husband to co-produce the 2012 remake of the movie Sparkle starring Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks. The couple also worked together to produce their first original, hour long, scripted TV drama series on BET (Being Mary Jane). The duo left BET in 2015 after signing a three-year deal with Warner Brothers. Now moving back to the CW and working alongside Warner Brothers the Akils will create and executive produce a scripted superhero series based on DC Comics' Black Lightening book series.^[6] The show is expected to premiere during 2018.

Legal Issues

Staci Robinson, writer and author of Interceptions filed a 40 million dollar lawsuit against Brock Akil and the CW network, accusing Brock Akil of stealing the concept of her hit CW comedy series from her novel that was unpublished when she showed it to her in 2001. In her claim Robinson claimed she thought of the show first because her novel chronicles the life of Stefanie Porter, a senior studying Law at UCLA, who ceases her hopes of becoming a lawyer, to support the dreams of her boyfriend, star football player Ricky Powers.^[2]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Mara Brock Akil on IMDb
• Creator Commentaries (CW Network)