Tyler Perry continues to expand his BET slate.
The multihyphenate has set Zatima, a spinoff of his popular drama Sistas, at streamer BET+. The 10-episode drama features Sistas fan favorites Devale Ellis and Crystal Renee Hayslett reprising their roles as Zac and Fatima, respectively, with the series taking its title from the couple’s ’shipper name. While Sistas airs on BET’s linear network and streamer, the spinoff will be exclusive to BET+. That means linear viewers who don’t subscribe to the service will need to do so in order to watch Zatima.
Zatima marks the second spinoff of a Perry series at BET/BET+ and joins The Oval spinoff Ruthless for the streamer. Perry’s BET/BET+ roster also includes The Oval, House of Payne and Assisted Living. All of them stem from a partnership Perry inked with BET parent ViacomCBS in July 2017. The deal, which runs through 2024, calls for Perry to produce 90 episodes annual of original drama and comedy series for BET and its streaming counterpart. Perry’s BET slate also includes The Tyler Perry Show: The Sistas After-Show Edition.
“We are continuing to strengthen our investment in quality programming, and our partnership with Tyler Perry has a proven track record of super-serving our audience,” said BET CEO Scott Mills. “We look forward to unlocking crossover viewership opportunities between our linear platform and our streaming service one of our strongest series, Sistas. With Zatima joining our expanding roster of BET+ originals, BET is committed to giving viewers more of the compelling content they love and expect across our platforms.”
Zatima, which will be written, executive produced and directed by Perry, began production this week at Tyler Perry Studios for a 2022 premiere on BET+.
Source: Hollywood
