Idris Elba, Mo Abudu Create Partnership To Empower, Uplift African Storytelling 

The collaboration seeks to increase capability and promote real representation in upcoming international film and television productions.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

Idris Elba, a SAG Award winner, and BAFTA nominee, and media mogul Mo Abudu have jointly announced that they will work to empower and elevate talent from Africa and the Diaspora through their respective production companies, Green Door Pictures, and EbonyLife Media. This is an exciting time for African storytelling.

The collaboration seeks to increase capability and promote real representation in upcoming international film and television productions.

Opportunities will be offered by the new cooperation through the development of capacity and massive international outputs.

Elba and Abudu hope to foster a more inclusive and diversified media ecosystem in which tales from Africa and its Diaspora receive the same degree of attention and respect as stories from other cultures and groups.

Elba and Abudu are appealing to global industry leaders, the wider public sector, governments, and international organizations to assist them in developing talent and capacity throughout the African continent.

The collaboration will provide the greatest industry education to develop and empower African talent. The alliance will assist graduates from the curriculum through EbonyLife’s ebonylifecreativeacedemy.com academy in Lagos, Nigeria, a model that will be duplicated across the continent.

It will also generate a fresh development slate of tales originating in Africa or set in the Diaspora for the global market as feature films and TV shows. The development slate will be focused on presenting real, Afro-centric tales to viewers all across the world.

Green Door Pictures and EbonyLife Media will collaborate to create a variety of content for broadcasters, streaming services, and theatrical distribution worldwide.

Idris Elba said: “I have always been passionate about using my platform to make a positive impact. By partnering with Mo, we aim to offer free, world-class industry education to the next generation of storytellers and bring their authentic voices to the forefront.

This partnership is a step towards creating a more inclusive and diverse media landscape, one that represents the voices and experiences of Africa and its Diaspora around the world.”

Mo Abudu, EbonyLife Media Founder, said: “We believe that Africa has the talent and the stories to captivate the world. It’s our mission to offer the best in industry education, mentorship, and production opportunities so that our graduates can become valuable contributors to the global media landscape. We plan to hit the ground running and explore the very best that African and Black stories have to offer global audiences.”