By Monique
I think my articles on Exodus: Gods and Kings, the Sony hack, and Ghost in the Shell say it best: Hollywood is messed up when it comes to real representation of non-whites in entertainment. Another thing it shows is that there needs to be a studio or agency that will handle films that otherwise wouldn’t get sold in the traditional Hollywood system so that new and important stories can finally get out of the script ghetto. Enter Charles King and his new venture, MACRO.
The Hollywood Reporter has the exclusive story on King, described by the website as “[o]ne of Hollywood’s most powerful black agents” and, according to Variety, the only black partner in the more than 100 years of WME’s existence. He’s leaving his job at William Morris Endeavor to create MACRO, a startup agency in Los Angeles that will focus specifically on developing content for the multicultural audience. MACRO has “eight figures” in funding already available.
MACRO will focus on “developing and distributing feature films, TV series and digital content targeting African-American, Latino and multicultural markets.” What King told The Hollywood Reporter sounds like he just got fed up after years of seeing great content pass by with no studios willing to grab it. “I’ve been sitting in these rooms for the last 15 years,” he said. “The studios aren’t focused on it; the packagers aren’t focused on it. There’s a huge void and a huge opportunity.” He also told Variety, “It’s clear to me now, as it was then [when he came to the industry 15 years ago], that there’s a growing appetite for content that serves the more diverse world we live in.”
The fact that King is creating MACRO is great in itself, since it’ll counteract a lot of the overlooking that goes on in Hollywood. But what’s even better is that MACRO also has projects from Hustle & Flow‘s Craig Brewer and Fruitvale Station‘s Ryan Coogler in the works. Both Coogler and Brewer were clients of King’s, and they are excited to work with him again, especially since both of them have discussed how hard it is to sell their films to Hollywood, a mostly-white entertainment industry.
“I’ve had the experience of not seeing people who look like me in the movies,” Coogler said. “I think society benefits from more diverse representation in the media, so MACRO is incredibly exciting and cutting-edge.
I’m personally excited for MACRO and how it could change the Hollywood game for good, as well as pave the way for other multicultural-focused firms to open and really give the long-standing studios a run for their money.
What do you think about MACRO and King? Give your opinions in the comments section below.
Charles King. Picture credit: MACRO
Julian 