HBO and Russell Simmons Enter into Overall Production and Development Deal July 30, 2015
Network Developing Several New Series And Specials With
Simmons For Premium Television;
Pact Builds Upon Successful Producing Partnership Beginning With
Hit Series Def Comedy Jam And Def Poetry Jam
LOS ANGELES - HBO has made an overall first-look deal for premium television with visionary multi-platform producer Russell Simmons' new media company All Def Digital (ADD). Under the terms of the agreement, the Def Jam Records co-founder and his team will create and develop a wide range of television projects for HBO.
Simmons has five active projects with the world's leading premium television service, three of which are being developed through his media company, All Def Digital (ADD).
HBO and Simmons are collaborating on:
* A new series that curates the best acts from All Def Digital's weekly live comedy night. Every week, ADD produces a live event in Hollywood featuring the best new comedians in the country.
* HBO and ADD are also developing These Are My Friends, a new comedy series created by independent filmmaker Shaka King that takes an original and authentic look at hip-hop culture. The series follows four real-life rap and hip-hop artists as they struggle to keep their dream alive. Real friends, real rappers, real comedy, real life.
* A comedy series through ADD with the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, which brought audiences cult classics like Super Troopers and Beerfest. The Broken Lizard Show will take an innovative and comedic look at race when, hundreds of years in the future, a space ship exploring the galaxy discovers the last white man in the universe.
* Simmons is also executive producing the highly-anticipated HBO limited series Codes of Conduct, directed and developed by Academy Award -winner Steve McQueen ( 12 Years a Slave ). The six-episode limited series is written by McQueen and screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan ( World War Z ), and executive produced by McQueen, Simmons, Iain Canning ( The King's Speech ), Emile Sherman ( The King's Speech ) and Alan Poul (HBO's The Newsroom ). Codes of Conduct stars newcomer Devon Terrell as a young man with a mysterious past who enters New York's high society. Paul Dano, Helena Bonham Carter and Rebecca Hall are also featured
* Simmons, alongside Stan Lathan, is producing a Def Comedy Jam 25th Anniversary Special that will feature an all-star lineup of comedians celebrating the longest-running and most influential comedy showcase on cable television.
We always speak of having distinct voices at HBO, and few in the industry are as unique and intelligent as Russell, says Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. He's been a part of our family for a long time, and we are so pleased to be continuing our relationship.
HBO has been like a home to me for a generation, says Simmons. I am enormously proud of the broad range of programming they have nurtured. Together, we have discovered new voices and helped launch emerging artists that deserved a mainstream platform. I am even more excited by the next generation of talent and shows that we are developing through All Def Digital TV.
Simmons' relationship with HBO dates back to 1992, when he co-created Def Comedy Jam, the landmark series that helped make household names of Jamie Foxx, Chris Tucker, Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart and many others. In 2002 Simmons launched the Peabody Award-winning Def Poetry Jam. A Broadway version of the series earned Simmons a Tony Award.
As co-founder of Def Jam Recordings with producer Rick Rubin in 1984, Simmons oversaw the signing of seminal hip-hop acts, including Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Jay Z and Kanye West. He also founded the iconic retail brands Phat Farm and Baby Phat and the trailblazing Rushcard debit card business. He has written three New York Times bestselling books on happiness and well-being, including 2014's Success Through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple.
ABOUT HBO
Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. and the world's most successful pay TV service, providing the two television services - HBO and Cinemax - to approximately 122 million subscribers worldwide. The services offer the popular subscription video-on-demand products HBO On Demand and Cinemax On Demand , as well as HBO GO and MAX GO , HD feeds and multiplex channels. HBO NOWSM, the network's internet only premium streaming service, provides audiences with instant access to HBO's acclaimed programming in the U.S. Internationally, HBO branded television networks, along with the subscription video-on-demand products HBO On Demand and HBO GO, bring HBO services to over 60 countries. HBO and Cinemax programming is sold into over 150 countries worldwide.
ABOUT ALL DEF DIGITAL
All Def Digital (ADD) is the leading multi-platform media company for millennials focusing on urban youth culture through video programming across comedy, music, lifestyle and topical and timely social commentary. The company nurtures new and established artists and produces and incubates a broad spectrum of original content through an efficient and transformative media model leveraged across social video platforms, traditional and premium television and motion picture development, live events, and its own record label in partnership with Universal Music Group. ADD also includes a highly curated and growing network of talent - from traditional writers and stand up comics to social video stars, from poets to hip hop recording artists. ADD partners with global brands to create immersive and authentic social content experiences with unique talent voices. In its first year of ope
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
HBO and Russell Simmons Enter into Overall Production and Development Deal July 30, 2015
