Media Release

Critically-acclaimed writer and performer Jeremy O. Harris signs two-year overall deal with HBO

LOS ANGELES, March 2, 2020 – HBO has entered into a two-year overall deal with Jeremy O. Harris, critically-acclaimed writer, performer and creator of the recent culture shifting Broadway show "Slave Play." The news was announced today by Francesca Orsi, executive vice president, HBO Programming.

“Jeremy is a singular talent whose groundbreaking work in the theatrical space has already revolutionized Broadway and we couldn’t be more honored to expand the reach of his voice in television,” says Orsi.

“Since first embarking on a theatre career I’ve known that tv/film would most likely be the only space where I could build a livelihood for myself, like many other playwrights before me. Yet, I wanted to make sure that any company I worked with in that space recognized the importance of maintaining the delicate ecology of theatre in these times. To know that HBO also believed in that vision gives me immense hope for the future of both industries. This unique partnership means that the relationship between the worlds of theatre and television can become more symbiotic in years to come.  This also gives me an opportunity to spread the wealth among a community that has shared so much with me,” says Harris. 

Harris is currently developing at HBO an Untitled Pilot based on his Yale Drama Graduate Thesis. He's an executive producer on the project along with A24.

The overall deal includes a discretionary fund that Harris can utilize to continue building work in the theatrical space, for projects where he will commission, enhance and produce new work for himself and others.

Additionally, Harris is returning to the HBO series “Euphoria” and will serve as co-producer.  The drama, which debuted in June 2019, is heading into production on its second season.

Harris’ play "Daddy" A Melodrama, will make its London debut at the Almeida Theatre next week on March 5, and the world premiere of his latest play, A Boy’s Company Presents: “Tell Me If I’m Hurting You,” at Playwrights Horizons in New York will begin previews May 15th, 2020.

Jeremy O. Harris is a writer and performer living in New York City.  His full-length plays include: Slave Play, which opened on Broadway Fall 2019 at the Golden Theater (New York Theatre Workshop, New York Times Critics Pick, winner of the 2018 Kennedy Center Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, and The Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences), Daddy (Vineyard Theatre/The New Group), Xander Xyst, Dragon: 1, and WATER SPORTS; or insignificant white boys (published by 53rdState Press). 

His work has been presented or developed by Pieterspace, JACK, Ars Nova, The New Group, New York Theater Workshop, Performance Space New York, and Playwrights Horizons.  Harris co-wrote A24’s upcoming film Zola with director Janicza Bravo which premiered at Sundance to rave reviews and is eyeing a release later this year.  He is the 11th recipient of the Vineyard Theatre’s Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, a 2016 MacDowell Colony Fellow, an Orchard Project Greenhouse artist, a resident playwright with Colt Coeur, and is under commission from Lincoln Center Theater and Playwrights Horizons.  Harris is a graduate of the Yale MFA Playwriting Program.

Jeremy O. Harris is represented by ICM Partners, ELIA and Granderson Des Rochers, LLP.