Karin Gist & Lee Daniels’ ‘Our Kind Of People’ Greenlighted Under Fox’s Script-To-Series Model

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has given a series order to drama Our Kind Of People, from writer/executive producer Karin Gist (Star, Mixed-ish) and executive producer Lee Daniels (Empire, Star). This marks the first new Fox drama series ordered for the 2021-22 season and the first series to come out of the network’s script-to-series model introduced last summer, which involves the opening of a writers room.

Written by Gist inspired by Lawrence Otis Graham’s provocative, critically praised book Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class, the series takes place in the aspirational world of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, a historical stronghold where the rich and powerful black elite have come to play for more than 50 years. Our Kind of People follows strong-willed, single mom Angela Vaughn as she sets out to reclaim her family’s name and make an impact with her revolutionary haircare line that highlights the innate, natural beauty of black women. But she soon discovers a dark secret about her mother’s past that will turn her world upside-down and shake up this community forever.

“Our Kind Of People is a soapy, thrilling exploration of race and class in America and an unapologetic celebration of black resilience and achievement – all daringly told by a team we’ve been eager to get back in business with,” said Michael Thorn, President of Entertainment for Fox Entertainment. “There are no better storytellers than Karin Gist and Lee Daniels to bring Lawrence Otis Graham’s seminal work to life.”

2021 Fox Pilots & Series Orders

Having already started moving away from the traditional pilot cycle to year-round development, Fox last summer further changed things up by adopting other development routes in addition to producing pilots, including the opening of a writers room to further develop some projects for straight-to-series consideration.

Our Kind of People was one of two dramas for which Fox commissioned a writers room last year. There is no decision yet on the other, the untitled country music dynasty project, but it is looking good, I hear.

This marks Daniels’ return to Fox’s primetime with a third series, following the hit Empire and the well-received Star, on which Gist also worked.

A co-production between 20th Television and Fox Entertainment, Our Kind of People is executive produced by Gist and Claire Brown via The Gist of It Productions; Daniels and Marc Velez via Lee Daniels Entertainment; Pam Williams; Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens and Rodney Ferrell via Propagate; and Montrel McKay.