NBCUniversal signs multi-year TV deal with Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions

US studio NBCUniversal (NBCU) has signed a multi-year overall deal with Get Out director Jordan Peele and his Monkeypaw Productions label, covering TV development and production.

Jordan Peele (photo: Peabody Awards)

The new partnership with NBCU-owned Universal Studio Group follows the previously announced exclusive five-year film partnership between Universal Pictures and Monkeypaw, signed in 2019.

Producer, director and writer Peele founded Monkeypaw in 2012. The company is headed by president Win Rosenfeld and is currently in production on the second season of Hunters for Amazon.

The prodco has since made the hit films Get Out and Us, which together grossed more than US$500m worldwide, and Candyman, which was made with MGM and recently released by Universal.

The latter film, directed by Nia DaCosta and co-written by DaCosta, Peele and Rosenfeld, recently topped the US box office, becoming the first movie from a Black female director to achieve this milestone.

On the TV side, Monkeypaw has produced shows including Key & Peele for Comedy Central, The Last O.G. for TBS, The Twilight Zone for CBS and Lovecraft Country for HBO.

Universal Television president Erin Underhill worked with Pearlena Igbokwe, chairman of Universal Studio Group, to secure the deal, which comes as NBCU looks to grow its streaming service Peacock.

Peele and Monkeypaw Productions are represented by CAA, Principato-Young and Jared Levine.

Igbokwe said: “The term ‘visionary’ is thrown around all too frequently in our business, but in the case of Jordan Peele, it could not be more apt. He brings a clarity of purpose as well as cultural specificity to everything he does, and audiences worldwide have responded.”