DeVon Franklin lands deal with CBS; plans to 'create new opportunities' for Christians, people of color
Christian author and filmmaker DeVon Franklin announced that he's struck a deal with CBS where he plans to “create new opportunities for people of faith and people of color.”
Franklin, president and CEO of the Franklin Entertainment production company, made the announcement on Instagram on Tuesday.
“Thanks for all the thanks and congrats! I’m beyond excited to expand into TV with CBS Studios!” he wrote. “I’m excited to create new opportunities for people of faith and people of color! I believe entertainment is one of the most powerful mediums in the world and we can use it to help shape hearts and minds for the better. Now when you see the announcement of a deal, it’s the beginning of something, not the end. So now the real works begins, so please keep your prayers going up (I need them!) and I commit to doing my best to bring you the best shows I possibly can!”
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Though the CBS deal marks Franklin’s first foray into television, his production company also has a multi-year first-look film deal with Paramount Pictures and a second-look deal with Netflix, according to Deadline.
He’s also behind the inspirational film "Breakthrough;" the Sony Pictures Animation film "The Starring;" and the Sony Pictures film "Miracles From Heaven." Franklin is also working on "Flamin’ Hot," which will tell the true story of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos; a Kirk Franklin biopic, and "Daring to Live," the true story of four black women who go on extreme adventures to overcome their greatest fears in life.
Franklin, who's married to actress Meagan Good and is also a bestselling author, has often discussed the importance of telling positive stories and making room for people of color in the entertainment industry.
“How can what happened to Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, or so many other countless black men and women who’ve lost their lives, happen? Because there’s a dehumanization. That dehumanization is by no means completely at the doorstep of Hollywood,” he told the LA Times last month. “However, when you see the persistent images that Hollywood portrays of black men and women in demeaning positions, being violent and so forth, it contributes to the dehumanization.”
In an interview with The Christian Post, Franklin said he “love[s] to make stories, movies that make the case for God.”
"True stories, in different ways, so that someone who might not know or might be wondering, they see the film and it makes a strong argument that there is a loving God that cares for us,” he explained. “And when we believe in Him, impossible things can happen. That's one of the things I look for when I'm evaluating different types of stories and whether or not I feel like I'm called to do those stories and this film, and this story had that.”
