Tavis Smiley has signed an exclusive multi-year production deal with Warner Bros Television, the company announced Thursday.
Under the new agreement, WBTVG and Smiley will develop new scripted television series projects for the broadcast networks and cable.
The first projects to be developed under the new pod deal will be TV series adaptations of Smiley’s books “My Journey with Maya,” a memoir of the author’s nearly 30-year friendship with the renowned poet Maya Angelou, and the upcoming “Before You Judge Me: The Triumph and Tragedy of Michael Jackson’s Last Days,” an account of the final 16 weeks in the life of legendary pop music superstar Michael Jackson, to be published in June 2016.
Smiley is currently the host of the late-night television talk show “Tavis Smiley” on PBS as well as “The Tavis Smiley Show” from Public Radio International (PRI).
Smiley’s TV projects will be produced through his The Smiley Group, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television or Warner Horizon Television, with Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution handling global sales.