Exclusive: David and Jessica Oyelowo and their production company Yoruba Saxon have sealed an exclusive, first-look deal with Mwm Studios to develop both film and television projects. Yoruba Saxon, founded in 2014, is the company behind such films as A United Kingdom (Fox Searchlight Pathe), Captive (Paramount), Nightingale (HBO) and Five Nights in Main (Filmrise).

Oyelowo, of course, is the actor who won international kudos for his brilliant portrayal of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma and who is also an acclaimed stage actor, having played everything from King Henry VI at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London to his recent turn as Othello opposite Daniel Craig in the New York Theatre Workshop.

Mwm Studios has had a great few years with its Emmy-nominated NatGeo series Genius with Imagine Television and its Academy Award nominated film Hell or High Water (with Ske). Mwm was formerly known as OddLot Entertainment before the...