Mara Brock Akil

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Mara Brock Akil (born Mara Dionne Brock, May 27, 1970) is an American screenwriter and television producer.

Girlfriends (2000–2008) and its sequel-off The Game (2006–2015).

Being Mary Jane's first drama series (2013–2019).

She created Love Is for Oprah Winfrey Network in 2018 and created Black Lightning for The CW.

Early life and education

Joan Demeter was born in Los Angeles, California, and was raised mainly in Kansas City. Demeter divorced Brock Akil's father, then becoming Brock Akil's principal character in Girlfriends when Brock Akil was eight years old. Demeter left Los Angeles and moved to Kansas City, where she was able to work her way up from an entry-level position to a computer programmer, while raising Brock Akil and her two children, actor William "Bill" Brock.

In 1988, she graduated from Raytown South High School. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and became a member of Delta Sigma Theta. While at Northwestern, she penned and performed in a sketch comedy performance for Northwestern's Black Student Union, took the lead in a Black Student Union's production, The Colored Museum's, and took a screenwriting course taught by author and screenwriter Delle Chatman. Brock Akil worked in Los Angeles a year after graduation and gained a job as a production assistant.

Personal life

While working on the set of Moesha, Brock Akil met Salim Akil, and the two married in 1999. Salim then went on to work as a television producer, most notably as the showrunner of Black Lightning on The CW. There are two children in the household. Sufi Muslims are both she and her husband, Salim.

The Akils created Love is ________, which was based on their family's relationship, but was suspended after a woman accused Salim of domestic violence in an alleged extramarital affair, as well as copyright violation by using her screenplay as the basis for the drama. All charges were denied, according to a statement made by Akil's lawyers.

The Four Sisters Scholarship is given to Akil by Gina Prince-Bythewood, Sara Finney Johnson, and Felicia D. Henderson, along with her colleagues.

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Career

Brock Akil first began writing for television 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 a spin-off to Girlfriends, The Game, along with her husband Salim Akil. 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.

Brock Akil went straight to UPN and sold her idea for her hit series to the network. She shopped the series around to studios to start the filming process, but, even though the show sold to a major network, no filming company wanted to take the bait. She struck a deal with Kelsey Grammer, and his involvement with Paramount Pictures was able to sign on as an executive producer for the show. Girlfriends premiered on September 11, 2000, and became a part of UPN's Monday night prime time lineup. Chronicling the life of Joan Clayton, played by Tracee Ellis Ross, and her three 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.

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. She places her dreams of being a doctor on hold 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 up by BET and began production in Atlanta. The Game brought in 7.7 million viewers in its Season 4 premiere on BET. After adding six more seasons to the series, the network released a statement on its website stating that the show would conclude after production of the seventh and eighth seasons.

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 show. 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.

As of March 2017, Brock Akil left ICM Partners to join CAA. More recently in September 2020, she signed a multi-year overall deal with Netflix to create new original content, under her new production company story27 productions.

The Akils created and executive produced a scripted superhero series, Black Lightning, based on DC Comics' Black Lightning series. The show premiered on January 16, 2018.

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 "The Game" from Robinson's novel that was unpublished when she showed it to her in 2001. 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.

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