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The fantasy comedy Little has dropped onto Netflix, adding another record-breaking hit to its digital library. This 2019 movie was executive produced by its young star, Marsai Martin, who plays a businessperson after she gets magically turned back into a child in the vein of Tom Hanks' Big; the adult version of her character, an unkind woman forced to self-evaluate by these events, is played by Regina Hall. Though Martin was initially hired as the executive producer for Little, she didn't want to stop there.

Living up to her reputation as one of Hollywood's most ambitious young actors, Martin sought to star in the film she created alongside Hall and Issa Rae. Additionally, before starring and producing Little, Martin was primarily famous for her role as Diane Johnson on ABC's hit sitcom Black-ish. Since Little and Black-ish, Martin has established herself as one of Hollywood's most prominent young talents, having worked...

If 2022 was the year Amazon Freevee broke out as a streaming success story, then this year belongs to Hulu's Onyx Collective.

The Disney-owned content brand launched in May 2021 with the goal of uplifting voices traditionally marginalized by Hollywood, and under the leadership of Tara Duncan (who previously served as the president of Freeform after a stint at Netflix), it has flourished. In Onyx's inaugural year, its first-ever acquisition, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's Summer of Soul, won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature; the following year brought the release of first scripted series, legal drama Reasonable Doubt, and docuseries The Hair Tales, produced by industry heavyweights Tracee Ellis Ross and Oprah Winfrey.

Natasha Rothwell will write, star in, executive produce and co-showrun a Hulu Original comedy for Onyx Collective called “How to Die Alone,” which just received an eight-episode order from the Disney General Entertainment content brand.

The “Insecure” alumna will serve as co-showrunner and EP along with Emmy nominee Vera Santamaria. “How to Die Alone,” which is a product of her deal with ABC Signature and Onyx Collective, will be produced under her banner, Big Hattie Productions. Desiree Akhavan (“The Bisexual”) also serves as executive producer.

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Per the series’ logline, “‘How to Die Alone’ follows Melissa (Rothwell), a fat, black, neurotic who’s never been in love. After a comical brush with death, she refuses to settle for anything less than the life she wants, catapulting her on a journey to becoming ‘100 that bitch’ in real life by any means necessary.

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Natasha Rothwell is striking out on her own.

The Insecure and White Lotus alum will star in, write and co-showrun How to Die Alone, a comedy that has been ordered straight to series at Hulu. The project hails from Onyx Collective, the Tara Duncan-led studio focused on underrepresented voices, and ABC Signature and stems from an overall deal with both that Rothwell signed earlier this year.

Hulu and Onyx say How to Die Alone will follow Melissa (Rothwell), “a fat, black, neurotic woman who has never been in love. After a comical brush with death, she refuses to settle for anything less than the life she wants, catapulting her on a journey to becoming ‘100 percent that bitch’ in real life by any means necessary.”

Rothwell and Vera Santamaria (Hulu’s Pen15) serve as co-showrunners on How to Die Alone. Both will exec...

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The Hair Tales, streaming on Hulu in collaboration with Onyx and OWN, quilts together the varied relationships Black women have with their hair, celebrating the collective experiences they share.

Fittingly, it was produced by Culture House, a Black and brown woman-owned production company focused on storytelling for film and television with particular political or cultural resonance.

The six-episode docuseries, executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, Tracee Ellis Ross and Michaela Angela Davis, centers and celebrates six different Black women — Issa Rae, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Chika, Marsai Martin, Chloe Bailey and Oprah Winfrey — by exploring their unique yet similar understandings of beauty and identity through their hair. Ross also serves as host and is joined by a chorus of academics, hairdressers and cultural icons.

“We really wanted to express the fullness and the expansiveness of our identities — all the different ways that we wear our hair,...

“Black hair is both stigmatized and celebrated,” according to the “The Hair Tales” trailer. It’s also called “resilient.” The question not addressed in the docuseries promo: when will it be accepted in Hollywood?

Black women’s hair has long been a popular topic before it took center stage in the Tracee Ellis Ross-led documentary series, and that discussion hasn’t necessarily translated into mainstream media acceptance. But, according to hairstylists Fesa Nu and Felicia Leatherwood, the move has prompted an attitude shift within Black Hollywood as artists have stopped seeking validation from the powers that be and instead are choosing to simply wear the hair that makes them happiest.

Most known for her work with sister duo Chloe and Halle Bailey, Nu recognizes the strength of the next generation of star power in making change. While Nu describes Chloe as always loving her hair during their time together,...

Producer Eric Paquette and Culture House Media co-founder Carri Belinda Twigg are among Joe Biden’s entertainment industry appointments to the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.

Members serve as representatives in their own communities for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The committee was established in 1958 by President Dwight Eisenhower.

Paquette is the CEO of Meridian Pictures and founder and CEO of the co-viewing start-up LetScreen. He previously was senior vice president of production at Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Screen Gems and, before that, worked at CBS News & Sports and was in senior executive positions at MGM and Phoenix Pictures. He is an advisory board member for The Johns Hopkins School of Education and is the former president and current commissioner of The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

Twigg is co-founder and head of development for Culture House Media, which specializes in storytelling about urgent cultural questions.

When Raeshem Nijhon, Carri Twigg and Nicole Galovski co-founded the production company Culture House four years ago, they insisted that their business stand out in Hollywood as an inclusive network of creatives that advocates for “healthy competition” and a community-based approach to filmmaking.

Already, the trio’s efforts are bearing fruit. The company is producing the upcoming “Growing Up,” a Disney+ docuseries conceived by Brie Larson that profiles of 10 American adolescents, and “The Hair Tales,” an exploration of Black women’s hair featuring Oprah Winfrey and Tracee Ellis Ross that will stream on Hulu through the Onyx Collective.

While Nijhon comes from a background in cinéma vérité documentary work in India and Galovski began as a production assistant, Twigg joined the two (who had long partnered with each other) after serving as a special assistant to former president Barack Obama and public engagement director under Joe Biden. The trio bonded...

At its first ever Television Critics Association press tour presentation, Disney’s Onyx Collective announced three new series orders: true crime docuseries “Ring of Fire: The Life of Annie Mae Aquash” (working title) directed by Yvonne Russo, an untitled project about car culture hosted by Swizz Beatz and “Searching for Soul Food” hosted by chef Alisa Reynolds and executive produced by Melina Matsoukas.

Onyx Collective also set an Oct. 22 premiere date for Oprah Winfrey, Tracee Ellis Ross and Michaela Angela Davis’ docuseries “The Hair Tales” and debuted a trailer for Raamla Mohamed’s legal drama “Reasonable Doubt.” Additionally, an extension was announced of Yara Shahidi and her production company 7th Sun’s overall deal with Onyx Collective and ABC Signature.

“Ring of Fire: The Life of Annie Mae Aquash” examines the life and murder of Annie Mae Aquash. A Mi’kmaq woman from Nova Scotia, Canada, Annie Mae was a mother,...

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Hulu and Onyx Collective are moving forward with their adaptation of Zakiya Dalila Harris’ novel The Other Black Girl.

The Disney-backed streamer has handed out a series order for the drama from Onyx Collective and Freeform president Tara Duncan.

The drama revolves around Nella, an editorial assistant, who is tired of being the only Black girl at her company so she’s excited when Hazel is hired. But as Hazel’s star begins to rise, Nella spirals out and discovers something sinister is going on at the company.

Danielle Henderson (Dare Me, Sorry for Your Loss) is set as showrunner on the series and will exec produce alongside Duncan, Rashida Jones, Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, Adam Fishbach and author Harris.

The Other Black Girl was first put in development in April 2020, a month before Duncan signed on to serve...

Exclusive: Key programming continues for the 20th annual Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival (Mvaaff) taking place August 5th – 13th.

The festival continues its slate of programming with featured content celebrating Black voices, with documentaries and the signature Q&a series, Color of Conversation from Run & Shoot Filmworks, and Festival Co-Founders Floyd and Stephanie Rance.

“Prime Video hosts Visionary Women: A Conversation with the New Wave of Filmmaking Voices,” featuring writer/director Nikyatu Jusu (Nanny) and writer/director Mariama Diallo (Master) at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center. The moderated discussion will be led by acclaimed actress, producer and 2022 Harvard graduate, Yara Shahidi. Through the lens of horror, the conversation between these three remarkable women will dive deep into Nikyatu Jusu and Mariama Diallo’s journey to the director’s chair, pushing genre boundaries, and the cultural discourse illustrated in their storytelling.

Disney’s Onyx Collective continues...