‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ Producer Charles D. King Shares Why Leaving WME to Launch Macro Was Worth It
variety.comTodd Longwell Charles D. King has an impressive list of accomplishments, including an Oscar nomination for best picture for his 2021 feature “Judas and the Black Messiah.” But his proudest moment came when he told his young sons that he was quitting WME, where he was the first Black partner, to launch Macro, a multi-platform media company amplifying the voices and perspectives of people of color. “They said to me, ‘Dad is going to be a boss!’ and started jumping up and down on their bed,” recalls King. “Whether Macro had gotten to the place we are now or not, I would have already felt like I succeeded.” Since founding Macro in 2015, King has produced or executive produced features including Juel Taylor’s “They Cloned Tyrone” (2023), Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You” (2018), Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” (2017) and the Denzel Washington-starrers “Roman J.
Israel, Esq.” (2017) and “Fences” (2016). The latter earned a supporting actress Oscar for Viola Davis and best picture, actor and adapted screenplay nominations.
Born in Harlem and raised in Georgia, the son of a pediatrician father and a mother who wrote poetry and novels, King dabbled in modeling before earning a B.A.
from Vanderbilt and a law degree from Howard, shifting his attention from a legal career to agency representation after an MTV lawyer suggested it would be a good fit.
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