Charles D.King Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Angelique Jackson When Kerry Washington stepped onto the gold and black carpet at the 1 Hotel in West Hollywood for the fifth ABFF Honors ceremony on March 5, she had the trailblazing Black women who forged a path for her to become an actor, producer and director on her mind — and an homage to one on her person. “I’m wearing an actual dress that Whitney Houston wore,” Washington told Variety, explaining that “When you get an award for excellence in the arts, you’ve gotta go to Black excellence.” As Washington prepared for the event, where she was honored alongside Courtney B. Vance, Janelle Monáe and Macro’s Charles D. King, plus filmmaker Kasi Lemmons and the cast of “Eve’s Bayou,” all for their contributions to the arts, one word came to mind: community.

Carla Renata Fresh off his Industry Leadership Award at the ABFF Honors and brokering a $90+ million-dollar strategic funding plan with a group of blue-chip investors, it was time to decompress as Charles D. King and wife Macro chief brand officer Stacey Walker King hosted their fifth annual pre-Oscars party. The festivities, again presented by Chase Sapphire, were in full swing at Mother Wolf in Hollywood Thursday night attracted some of Hollywood’s best known people of color. “Abbott Elementary” stars Quinta Brunson, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Tyler James Williams were in attendance, while producer/actress and “Black-ish” star Marsai Martin hit the dance floor alongside Lena Waithe, Affion Crockett and Teyana Taylor.

EXCLUSIVE: M88 has signed Netflix’s Ginny and Georgia writer Mike Gauyo.

MACRO announced the completion of an over $90 million minority investment led by BlackRock Alternatives, through the BlackRock Impact Opportunities Fund and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. Harbourview Equity Partners and funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management also participated in the round, joining the list of MACRO’s investors that also includes Emerson Collective, AMC Networks, Essence Ventures, MNM Creative, Raymond J. McGuire, Anré Williams, Clara Wu and others.

Angelique Jackson The 2023 American Black Film Festival (ABFF) Honors is set to recognize Kerry Washington, Courtney B. Vance, Charles D. King and Janelle Monáe with special honors during the annual award ceremony saluting excellence in the motion picture and television industry. Washington, an Emmy winner and SAG and Golden Globe-nominated actor, director and producer, will be presented with the Excellence in the Arts Award (Female), while two-time Emmy winner Vance will accept the award for Excellence in the Arts (Male). MACRO founder and CEO King will be presented the Industry Leadership Award, while eight-time Grammy-nominated artist, producer and actor Monáe receives the Renaissance Award. Kasi Lemmons’ 1997 drama “Eve’s Bayou” will be honored with the Classic Cinema Award.

EXCLUSIVE: M88 has signed Nigerian American filmmaker Walé Oyéjidé, on the heels of his first narrative feature, Bravo, Burkina!‘s world premiere in the NEXT section of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

The MACRO Lodge is back at Sundance for its 6th annual edition of programming and events centered on celebrating diversity and inclusion.Over the course of four days, the invite-only showcase will host screenings, panels and parties at its location on Park City’s Main Street.MACRO, which also sponsors the festival, is presented by the company’s founder and CEO Charles D. King and his wife, Chief Brand Officer Stacey Walker King.

EXCLUSIVE: Actress DeWanda Wise (Jurassic World: Dominion) has signed with M88 for representation.

EXCLUSIVE: Writer-director Elegance Bratton and producer Chester Algernal Gordon have signed with WME.

Netflix’s Tudum showcase.Boyega plays Fontaine, a neighborhood drug dealer who somehow survives being shot by his rival without a scratch on him. Alongside Yo-Yo (Parris) and local pimp Slick Charles (Foxx), Fontaine discovers that his neighborhood is being surveilled and experimented on by a mysterious organization that is trying to clone the Black population.

EXCLUSIVE: Alton Mason, the 24-year-old actor who broke out with his turn as Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner Little Richard in Warner Bros.’ Elvis, has signed with M88 for representation.

Macro, the Oscar-winning film studio founded by Charles D. King, is getting into business with Amazon. Under the new deal, Amazon Studios has first look on feature film projects from the Judas and the Black Messiah producer, which intends to develop, package and produce for Prime Video. The  OTT service has a footprint in 240 countries around the globe.

Selome Hailu Macro Television Studios is producing “Swordplay,” a fantasy drama series based on original idea by Jonathan and Josh Baker. The Baker brothers developed the series alongside Macro, Hebru Brantley and Eric Phillips. Lucien Christian Adderly and Richard “Byrd” Wilson serve as series creators, and Glen Mazzara will showrun. “Swordplay” follows a sheltered teen and his newly befriended Hypebeast crew as they lace up their retro kicks and go for glory with an ancient sword used to defeat otherworldly creatures on the streets of LA. A veteran showrunner, Mazzara’s credits include “The Shield,” “The Walking Dead” and “Damien.” It is therefore notable that he’s boarded “Swordplay” this early in the process, supporting early-career filmmakers such as the Baker Brothers. The Bakershad their feature film debut with “Kin,” based on their short film “Bag Man.” Jack Reynor, Zoe Kravitz, Dennis Quaid, James Franco and Myles Truitt starred in the feature. They are also directing upcoming sci-fi thriller “Ursa Major” starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Xochitl Gomez.

Macro Television Studios is set to produce Swordplay, an action fantasy drama series based on an original idea by Jonathan and Josh Baker aka The Baker Brothers (Kin).

EXCLUSIVE: Here is a fun project coming together. Deadline is hearing that Captain Marvel writer-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have come on to write, direct and produce the drama Freaky Tales for eOne and Macro. eOne had no comment on the project. Insiders say Jelani eOne, Johnson and Poppy Hanks will produce on behalf of Macro.

Angelique Jackson MACRO Film Studios and Confluential Films has announced the start of production on the new film “Young. Wild. Free.”Directed by Thembi Banks (“Insecure,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls”), the movie stars Sanaa Lathan, Algee Smith, Sierra Capri and Mike Epps.

EXCLUSIVE: Macro Film Studios, Confluential Films and No Label Productions are collaborating on the film Young. Wild. Free. Sanaa Lathan (The Perfect Guy), Algee Smith (Judas and the Black Messiah), Sierra Capri (On My Block) and Mike Epps (The Upshaws) star.

EXCLUSIVE: Peabody Award-winning showrunner, producer and writer Gary Lennon (Power Book IV: Force) has signed with M88.

EXCLUSIVE: M88 has signed Emmy- and Critics’ Choice Award-nominated actor Asante Blackk (This Is Us) for theatrical representation.

Apple TV+ is close to a series order for dramedy Government Cheese, starring and executive produced by David Oyelowo. In addition to Oyelowo, the project hails from creators Paul Hunter and Aeyesha Carr (Midnight Run, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Macro Television Studios and Apple Studios.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDavid Oyelowo is set to star in a dramedy series that is nearing a pickup order at Apple, Variety has learned exclusively.The show is titled “Government Cheese” and is based on the short film of the same name made by Paul Hunter. Hunter serves as co-creator on the series version with Aeysha Carr (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “The Carmichael Show”).“Government Cheese” follows Hampton Chambers (Oyelowo), a man recently released from prison who struggles to keep his criminal past at bay and win back his family, all while processing moments of divine intervention that seem to happen with increasing frequency.Hunter and Oyelowo originally brought the short film to MACRO and Apple, which will serve as co-studios on the series.

Eva Longoria called out mainstream media and Hollywood on Saturday for continuing to perpetuate harmful stereotypes about people of color. “The villainization of Black and brown people comes from the media. I mean news.

Producers Eva Longoria and Charles D. King shared their frustrations today at the Produced By conference, relating that studios tell them they looked for diverse crew members, but couldn’t find any. MACRO CEO King and UnbeliEVAble Entertainment founder Longoria said they are creating a database of diverse talent they can present to studios when faced with that question.

Angelique Jackson Marvel star Dominique Thorne has signed with M88 for representation.Thorne will soon make her MCU debut as the comic book character Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, a brilliant inventor who built her own version of the Iron Man suit in an MIT dorm, in the highly-anticipated movie “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Thorne will then go on to headline her own Disney+ series, “Ironheart.”The young actor made her feature film debut in Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins’ critically acclaimed 2018 movie “If Beale Street Could Talk.” She played Sheila Hunt, the younger sister of Fonny Hunt (Stephan James), one half of the movie’s central love story. Thorne next starred opposite Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield in Warner Bros.’ Academy Award-nominated film “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Directed by Shaka King and executive produced by Ryan Coogler and Charles D.

The Producers Guild of America said today that its 2022 Produced By Conference will be held Saturday an Sunday, June 11-12, at the Fox in Century City. Watch the announcement video above.

Wilson Chapman editorAfter a three-year hiatus, the Producers Guild of America’s Produced By Conference is returning to Los Angeles this June.First established in 2008, the Produced By Conference is an annual one-weekend event that brings producers from film, television, and other mediums for roundtables, panels and networking events. This year’s Produced By is the first since 2019, after the conference faced several cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There will not be a third season of Raising Dion. Series star Sammi Haney, who played Esperanza on the Michael B. Jordan-produced superhero drama, revealed the news Tuesday on Instagram and it was confirmed by Netflix.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Raising Dion” has been canceled at Netflix after two seasons, Variety has confirmed.Series star Sammi Haney shared the news with fans on Instagram, writing in part, “Sad to say that Raising Dion is CANCELED [sic] Thank you for all of the amazing support we got from all of our wonderful fans! Season 2 was a success, equal to Season 1, even if just looking at how many people watched all of it and wanted a season 3!”“Raising Dion” first premiered on Netflix in 2019, with Season 2 of the show launching in February 2022. It followed the story of Nicole (Alisha Wainwright) and her son Dion (Ja’Siah Young) after Dion starts to manifest several mysterious, superhero-like abilities.

EXCLUSIVE: The project will be based on the best-selling autobiography of the same title by the pioneering Black businessman Reginald F. Lewis.The drama will chronicle the story of how Reginald F. Lewis rose to become the richest Black American in the United States. Based on the bestselling autobiography, Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun? It will follow Lewis breaking glass ceilings from Baltimore to Harvard to Wall Street to Kansas to Paris, from boardrooms to family homes to lavish soirees, up until his tragic, sudden death from a brain tumor at the height of his powers. It will also portray how systemic racism takes a toll on the progression of social status for Black Americans.

EXCLUSIVE: In a bidding war that included a number of streamers and networks, FX has closed a deal for development of the six-episode limited series based on Blitz Bazawule’s upcoming debut novel The Scent of Burnt Flowers. Bazawule will write, direct and produce under his newly minted entity Inward Gaze, with Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II attached to star. Abdul-Mateen will also executive produce under his production shingle House Eleven10 alongside Macro Television Studios.

New Line has acquired Mexican filmmaker Issa López’s original screenplay “The Girl with a Thousand Names,” her follow-up to 2017’s acclaimed “Tigers Are Not Afraid.”López will direct and produce the feature for HBO Max, TheWrap has confirmed.Her breakout film “Tigers Are Not Afraid,” is a hauntingly poetic horror film about a group of children orphaned by cartel violence. It was nominated for nine of Mexico’s Ariel Awards and won two.“The Girl with a Thousand Names” will likely have the same blend of true-life horror and magical realism in its story about unaccompanied minors and children in a detention center who have been separated from their families at the U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: In competition, New Line has acquired filmmaker Issa López’s original screenplay The Girl with a Thousand Names. López will direct and produce the feature for HBO Max.

EXCLUSIVE: Macro Television Studios has tapped Bad Boys For Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah to direct the pilot episode of its action-adventure drama Cordoba. The filmmaking duo also will serve as executive producers of the potential series, which is currently being shopped.

Queen of the South co-producer and Queen Sugar producer Tina Mabry has signed on to direct and co-write Pretty Big at Warner Bros. and HBO Max, a project which Mike Jackson of Get Lifted Film Co., Poppy Hanks and Jelani Johnson of Macro and Kristina Sorensen will produce.

Following a competitive bidding process, Warner Bros. will co-produce “Pretty Big,” a biopic about Akira Armstrong, founder of the body positive Pretty Big Movement dance company, that will stream on HBO Max. Tona Mabry (“Pose,” “Women of The Movement”) will direct and co-write the film with Dan Steele (“Gossip Girl”).“Pretty Big” will be produced by Mike Jackson of Get Lifted Film Co., Poppy Hanks and Jelani Johnson of MACRO, and Kristina Sorenson at Warner Bros.

Angelique Jackson Akira Armstrong’s Pretty Big Movement dance company set out to destroy stereotypes in the dance world — and now that story is getting the Hollywood treatment in a new film.Set at Warner Bros. for HBO Max, “Pretty Big” is based on the true life story and the origin of Armstrong’s dance company, which is inclusive of bodies of all shapes, sizes and colors. Tina Mabry (“Pose,” “Women of the Movement”) has signed on to direct the project, co-writing the screenplay with Dan Steele (“Gossip Girl,” “Faking It”).The movie follows Armstrong, a young, plus-sized woman who takes matters into her own hands after being rejected from other dance companies, despite her obvious talent.