Lena Waithe Set To Executive Produce New BET Plus Dramedy “Birth Of Cool”

Lena Waithe is set to executive produce an upcoming dramedy series for BET Plus.

Waithe, 36, is booked and busy. “The Chi” creator has just signed on as EP of “Birth of Cool,” an original BET Plus series. “Birth of Cool” is a collaborative effort between BET Plus, Macro Television Studios, and Waithe’s production house Hillman Grad Productions.

According to Variety, the dramedy series will consist of an initial ten episodes, and each will be half an hour-long. The show will follow the lives of students who attend Compton, California’s Crispus Attucks High, a predominately Black school in the city. The teens’ stories will include balancing social life, academics, and the world’s harsh realities.

Variety reports that the show was created by writer-director Juel Taylor and writer Tony Rettenmaier. Rettenmaier and Taylor previously worked on the sci-fi comedy “They Cloned Tyrone,” which started John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx.

This will be Waithe’s third series with BET Plus, along with her two other shows, “Twenties” and “Boomberang.” Taylor and Rettenmaier will also act as executive producers, and Taylor will be directing the pilot.