EXCLUSIVE: M88 has signed director, playwright, TV writer, and performer Radha Blank for representation.
Blank’s first feature film, The Forty-Year-Old Version, was one of the most acclaimed debuts of 2020. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, where Blank was awarded the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award and Vanguard Award, the semi-autobiographical project sees her star as Radha, a once-promising playwright, who is now approaching 40 and feeling stuck, both in her career and her personal life. Facing the indignities of the theater world and gentrification, she tries to reclaim her creative voice by exploring hip-hop under the moniker RadhaMUSPrime.
Blank wrote, directed, and produced the black-and-white indie, released by Netflix. It also earned her the Spotlight Award from the National Board of Review, which named the film to its list of the Top Films of 2020.
Blank received a Helen Merrill Playwriting Award for her critically acclaimed play Seed, which explores the effects of the crack epidemic in Harlem during the ’80s and ’90s. Her television writing credits include the hit shows Empire (Fox) and She’s Gotta Have It (Netflix).
Previously, the multi-hyphenate was invited to join The Met Costume Institute team to reimagine one of its period rooms for the ‘In America’ exhibit. Her original piece ‘We Good. Thx!’ incorporated a 16-foot-long braided wig as a signifier of Black Women as often-missing contributors to American culture. The piece gained critical acclaim as her first foray into the world of fine arts.
When not writing for the stage and screen, Blank performs as RadhaMUSprime, whose brand of truth-telling, Hip-Hop comedy has sold out shows from New York to Norway. She will continue to be represented by CAA and Del Shaw Moonves.
