Prolific producer Debra Martin Chase has re-upped her multi-year first-look deal with Universal Television.
The news comes as the two parties celebrate continued success for “The Equalizer,” starring Queen Latifah, which was renewed for a third and fourth season earlier this month.
“I’m thrilled that this partnership with Debra continues to thrive to this day,” stated Universal Television president Erin Underhill. “It has been phenomenal to work with Debra and her team on ‘The Equalizer.’ She is a true inspiration, pioneer and friend.”
With the extension, Chase will develop and produce new projects for network, cable and streaming services under her Martin Chase Productions banner.
“Having the right artistic home is critical and essential. I am thrilled to be continuing my relationship with Universal Television,” added Chase. “Pearlena, Erin and the entire team share my passion to make relevant, boundary-pushing and entertaining television, provide tremendous support for my creative vision and are just simply great human beings that I immensely enjoy working with.”
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In addition to “The Equalizer,” Chase is in post-production on the biopic “True Spirit” for Netflix, starring Academy Award winner Anna Paquin and Teagan Croft. In partnership with Marc Platt, Chase is a producer of the hit Broadway musical, “A Strange Loop,” which earned 11 Tony nominations.
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Over the course of her career, Chase has been a trailblazer for Black women in the entertainment industry, as the first African American woman to produce a film that grossed over $100 million (1996’s “Courage Under Fire”) and the first Black woman producer to ink a deal at a major studio.
Her company, Martin Chase Productions, previously had an overall deal with The Walt Disney Company from 2001 to 2016. Prior to that, Chase ran Whitney Houston’s BrownHouse Productions from 1995 to 2000, and Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment from 1992 to 1995.
Chase’s work has garnered Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, NAACP Image, BET and Peabody Award nominations, with a filmography that has grossed over half-billion dollars at the box office and includes “The Princess Diaries” and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” movies, as well as “Harriet,” “Sparkle,” “Just Wright” and “The Preacher’s Wife.”
Chase is repped by CAA and Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano.