‘Mixed-Ish’: Karin Gist Set As Showrunner Of ‘Black-Ish’ Spinoff In ABC Studios-20th TV Synergy Move

Karin Gist, who served as executive producer on Fox’s musical drama Star for the past two seasons, is joining the newly picked-up ABC comedy series mixed-Ish, a spinoff from ABC’s popular comedy black-ish. The project, from ABC Studios, is a black-ish prequel centered on Tracee Ellis Ross’s character Rainbow Johnson.

Written by Peter Saji and black-ish creator Kenya Barris, in mixed-ish, Rainbow Johnson (Ross) recounts her experience growing up in a mixed-race family in the ‘80s and the constant dilemmas they had to face over whether to assimilate or stay true to themselves.

Gist, who is under an overall deal at 20th TV, will executive produce with Saji, Barris, Ross, Randall Winston, Artists First’s Brian Dobbins, Cinema Gypsy’s Laurence Fishburne and Helen Sugland and Anthony Anderson.

Since the completion of Disney’s $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox assets brought under the Disney roof 20th Century Fox TV, Fox 21 TV Studios and ABC Studios, the efforts by the executives overseeing the combined Disney Television Studios operation have been focused on creating a level of competition but also a lot of collaboration among the three labels.

That came into play when Barris identified Gist as top showrunner choice for mixed-ish. Gist wanted to do it — she, Barris and Ross had all worked together on Girlfriends and we were excited about reuniting on mixed-ish.

While she is under the overall deal at 20th TV, it took just a couple of calls, and she was set as showrunner on the ABC Studios comedy series within hours.

Star marked the first showrunner gig for former Grey’s Anatomy co-executive producer Gist. She practiced family law for three years before deciding to pursue a career as a writer. Her first writing job was on the UPN/CW sitcom Girlfriends where she spent five seasons, rising to supervising producer. Gist made the switch to drama with One Tree Hills and also worked on ABC’s Revenge before joining ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy in 2015. Her resume also includes a stint on Showtime’s dark comedy House of Lies.

In features, Gist is writing the upcoming Sister Act 3. She is repped by 3 Arts and attorney Joel McKuin.