Mara Brock Akil

Mara Brock Akil (born May 27, 1970) is an American television producer and writer. She began her screenwriting career at age 23 on South Central on Fox. At age 30, she became the youngest African American showrunner on broadcast network television when she created the sitcom Girlfriends, airing on UPN (2000–06) and its successor The CW (2006–08), and is the first African American female showrunner to have two series concurrently on broadcast network TV when she created its spin-off The Game on The CW (2006–09) before its revival on BET (2011–15).

Early life and education She was born Mara Brock in 1970 in Compton, California, to Joan Carol Fullmore and William Bartido Brock II (later Wali Shamsuddin) who were high school sweethearts. Her brother William "Bill" Brock III was three years old at the time and their younger sister Kara Brock was born four years later. Her paternal grandmother was Candida Brock, and her maternal grandfather was Johnn Fullmore. Her maternal grandmother Hellen Bales Fullmore died in November 2024 at age 102. Mara lived her early childhood in Baldwin Hills in South Central Los Angeles, and lived her preteen and teenage years in and around Kansas City, Missouri, after her parents divorced when she was eight years old in 1977. At , Mara saw a 17-year-old Whitney Houston as a cover model on the November 1981 issue of Seventeen magazine, more than three years before she became a popstar. Brock Akil recalled, "When she made it to the cover, I just felt like I made it to the cover" and that it gave her hope that "things are possible." She graduated in 1988 from Raytown South High School where she decided she would pursue a career in writing. She opted against going to the University of Missouri like many of her classmates were and applied to only one college, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in the Chicago metropolitan area, hoping to attend the Medill School of Journalism. She was accepted and went on to join the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

In her freshmen year, Mara volunteered to help some friends in the campus' Black sketch comedy group Out Da Box. When a member encouraged her to write a sketch, she initially resisted before writing a parody of Mike Tyson and Robin Givens' marriage. "The first laugh was a high I will never forget," she later recounted. She took two courses with professor Njoki McElroy in 'Performance of African-American Literature' that focused on directing and performing. She performed in two theatrical productions for McElroy, including playing the lead in The Colored Museum. She had a college internship at The Grand Rapids Press in Michigan that changed her approach to storytelling; "I was thinking I got this story, and you realized very quickly that your stories did not matter. I remember the amount of hustle it took just to get a couple stories on. So, my senior year I decided 'I'm going to tell the truth through fiction.'" She made her decision to work in the television industry after meeting professor Delle Chatman at the seminar and went on to petition Chatman to get into her screenwriting course. She tried out for the job of an MTV VJ when an open audition was held on campus in February 1991. Mara Brock graduated in 1992 and applied for Hollywood writing apprenticeships but never received any. She turned down an advertising job and worked for a year as an assistant manager at a Gap clothing store before deciding to move to Los Angeles.

Career 1993–2000 In 1993, Mara Brock performed as an actor in a minor speaking role in the feature film With Honors (1994) in a scene shot in Chicago. After moving to Los Angeles, she met NU alumnus and assistant director Jerry Ziesmer who told her to "put my last two films on your résumé." She called Mark Adkins, brother and manager of comedian Sinbad, who she befriended while visiting comedy clubs in Chicago. Adkins had one job opening left and she became a production assistant for $180 a week on The Sinbad Show. The sitcom aired for one season spanning 24 episodes from September 16, 1993 to April 21, 1994 on Fox before being cancelled. In 1994, while working on the show, knowing that its executive producers Ralph Farquhar and Michael J. Weithorn were developing a TV pilot, she began writing scripts she hoped for them to read. Once she got a minute of Farquhar's time, she recalls telling him, "Let me not waste it on why I need you. That's obvious. Let me spend it on why you need me." She was given the position of a WGA Writers' Trainee on the forthcoming series South Central. The comedy drama, centered on divorcee single mother Joan Mosley and her three children, aired for one season spanning 10 episodes from April 5 to June 7, 1994 on Fox.

In 1995, after an 18-month unemployment period and working as a production assistant on CBS sitcom Dave's World, Mara Brock received a call from Farquhar and soon began working on Moesha as a writer on the first four seasons and then also as a producer on the fourth season which ended on August 23, 1999. The sitcom, starring Brandy Norwood, was created by Farquhar, Vida Spears and Sara Finney-Johnson. Moesha aired for six seasons spanning 127 episodes from January 23, 1996 to May 14, 2001, becoming the biggest hit on the fledgling UPN. In a February 2021 interview, Brock Akil recounted her experience working for Farquhar: "I really appreciate the way he ran Moesha and that he gave access to us and taught us how to [...] not just write script, but how do you produce that [...] I wanted to learn from him. He learned from Garry Marshall, and so all that legacy is within me." She struck a deal with Kelsey Grammer, who became involved after no studio agreed to finance the series and had funds available through his development deal at Paramount Television. The series was produced by his production company, Grammnet Productions. The sitcom chronicling Joan Clayton, played by Tracee Ellis Ross, and her three girlfriends aired for eight seasons. The first six seasons aired on UPN from September 11, 2000 to May 8, 2006. After The WB and UPN merged to become The CW, the last two seasons aired from October 1, 2006 to February 11, 2008. Following the network change when several other shows were cancelled, Brock Akil complained about the lack of marketing around her shows by The CW.

She also created and executive produced a spin-off to Girlfriends, The Game, along with her husband Salim Akil.

Following the launch of the CW network, Brock Akil created a spin-off series to her first show that follows the life of Joan's cousin, Melanie Barnett, played by Tia Mowry. She places her dreams of being a doctor on hold and moves to San Diego to be a supportive backbone to her boyfriend, professional football player Derwin Davis, played by Pooch Hall. The series ran on the CW network for three seasons until its abrupt ending in 2009. The show was canceled for about two years until it was picked up by BET and began production in Atlanta. The Game brought in 7.7 million viewers in its Season 4 premiere on BET. After adding six more seasons to the series, the network released a statement on its website stating that the show would conclude after production of the seventh and eighth seasons.

2009–2020

She is the creator of BET's Being Mary Jane, starring Gabrielle Union premiered July 2, 2013, and became the couple's first hour-long scripted show. The show chronicles the life of Mary Jane Paul, a successful news anchor, and attempts to address the statistic that within the Black community 42% of successful women will never marry.

On March 22, 2017, it was reported that Brock Akil had left ICM Partners to join Creative Artists Agency (CAA) as her talent agency.

The Akils created and executive produced a scripted superhero series, Black Lightning, based on DC Comics' Black Lightning series. The show premiered on January 16, 2018.

2020–present On January 7, 2020, it was announced that Brock Akil had signed a script deal with Fox Entertainment to develop a series for the Fox broadcast network. On September 9, it was announced that she had signed a multi-year overall deal with Netflix to produce new content.

On September 27, 2021, she announced the launch of her new production company Story27 under her Netflix deal and the titles of three series and one documentary being developed.

Personal life Brock Akil is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs team in the NFL. She has been a supporter of Habitat for Humanity, even featuring them on the season six premiere of Girlfriends. Speaking in the 2020s, Brock Akil stated she begins her morning drinking lemon water and alkaline water, before drinking green tea or matcha latte later in the day; she begins intermittent fasting after , excluding Fridays and Saturdays; she likes to cook baked chicken with vegetables and brown rice for her family on Sundays; and she loves to journal, especially before bedtime.

Family and religion Mara Brock Akil is one of six siblings consisting of William Brock III, former actress Kara Bustos, half-brothers Shamsie and Saiid Shamsuddin, and half-sister Chi'Mere Banks through their father Wali Shamsuddin. Her brothers Shamsie and William are deceased; the latter died in September 2020. The couple have two children together: Yasin Ali Akil (born 2004) and Nasir Lukmon Akil (born 2009). Salim also has an older daughter and an older son predating his marriage and is a grandfather. Mara Brock had been born into a Muslim household that followed the Nation of Islam. After her divorcee mother Joan Fullmore left California with her children and relocated to Missouri, they practiced Christianityat first following the United Methodist Church, attending Emanuel Cleaver's congregation, and later following the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Mara Brock reverted to Islam at some point before or during her relationship with Salim Akil. In their semi-autobiographical TV series Love Is, the character of Nuri is depicted as being a non-practicing Muslim at the time she began dating Yasir, a practicing Muslim.

Legal issues In 2006, Staci Robinson filed a $40 million lawsuit against Brock Akil and The CW, accusing Brock Akil of stealing the concept of her TV series The Game from Robinson's then-unpublished novel Interceptions from when she allegedly showed it to her in 2001. Robinson argued she had thought of the show first because her novel chronicles the life of Stefanie Porter, a senior studying law at UCLA, who ceases her hopes of becoming a lawyer to support the dreams of her boyfriend, star football player Ricky Powers.

The Akils created Love is, which was based on their relationship, but was canceled after a woman accused Salim of domestic violence in an alleged extramarital affair, as well as copyright infringement by using her screenplay as the basis for the series. A statement made by Akil's lawyers denied all allegations.

Filmography Films Year Title Executive producer Writer Notes 1994 With Honors Actress 2012 Sparkle 2015 The Start Up Television film 2023 Stamped from the Beginning Documentary

Television Year Title Creator Producer Writer Director Notes 1993–1994 The Sinbad Show Uncredited production assistantAlso actress: "" 1994 South Central Uncredited WGA Writers' Trainee1995 Dave's World Uncredited production assistant 1996–1999 Moesha Producer: 22 episodes Writer: 9 episodes Also story editor: 9 episodes 1999–2000 The Jamie Foxx Show Supervising producer: 24 episodes Executive producer: 1 episode Writer: 4 episodes 2000–2008 Girlfriends Executive producer Also uncredited actress: "" 2006–2009, 2011–2015 The Game Executive producer Director: "" 2009 Leading Women Documentary Self: Episode 2 2010 Cougar Town Consulting producer: 22 episodes Writer: 2 episodes 2013–2015, 2017, 2019 Being Mary Jane Executive producer 2015 Reed Between the Lines Executive producer: 3 episodes 2018 Love Is Executive producer Director: 2 episodes 2018–2021 Black Lightning Executive producer 2020 Make It Work! Television special; Self 2021 On Story Season 12, episode 9 History of the Sitcom Documentary Self: 3 episodes 2021–2023 The Game Executive producer 2023 See It Loud: The History of Black Television Documentary Self: 3 episodes 2025–present Forever Executive producer Director: "" 2025 Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television Documentary Self: 2 episodes

Awards and nominations