Charles D. King has changed the entertainment landscape for the better.
The Journey
Born in Harlem, NY, and raised on the outskirts of Atlanta, GA, he showed early signs of being a businessman by selling supplies at school and even cutting neighbors’ grass, CNBC reports. He says his inspiration was his father, who founded a medical practice as a pediatrician. According to Forbes, King originally intended to also pursue a career in the medical field.
“Seeing him leave a job to start his own practice. My mother was the first receptionist. It was just amazing watching it, but the other thing was the freedom that he had,” he told CNBC.
King would follow that blueprint of ownership, but within the entertainment industry. As a political science student at Vanderbilt University, he showed an interest in recognizing talent. However, his pivot into the entertainment industry came during a two-year stint as a law clerk with a music attorney while at Howard University School of Law between 1993 and 1996.
In 1995, King scored a summer internship with MTV in New York, NY, at the brink of Hip-Hop’s golden era, while also managing groups and entertainers. An MTV attorney acknowledged that King would thrive as a lawyer but encouraged him to broaden his horizons by pursuing a career path as an agent.
“It was that internship, that clerkship, working in the law and business affairs [department], and every week on Friday, working on a big project with all of the interns throughout the entire company on more of a creative project that I learned about the talent agency world,” he told Forbes.
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Without a job, computer, or car, King moved to Los Angeles, CA, with aspirations to make it in the entertainment industry seven months after completing his education at Howard University School of Law.
“I had a vision and a list of names,” he said to CNBC.
King landed a role in global talent agency William Morris Endeavor’s (WME) mailroom in 1997, making $300 a week while drowning in student loan debt of $100,000, CNBC reports. The role, which he had for a year, allowed him to network with agents and their assistants.
“I cultivated relationships with people from every sector,” he mentioned to the outlet.
In training, King’s first clients were Eric Fogel and Missy Elliot. King then scaled in the ranks at WME, becoming a senior vice president and motion picture agent from 1997 to 2009 and then for an additional six years he worked as a partner and motion picture agent, his LinkedIn details.
Making History
King’s promotion was a first for WME, making him the first Black partner at the agency but also any major Hollywood talent agency.
“When I got promoted, it was the first time in, I believe, 101 years, [to be the] first African American to go from the mailroom to film and television agent, at least in the Beverly Hills office,” King mentioned, according to NPR. “I was very good at being an agent, and I broke tremendous ground. I became the first Black partner in the history of Hollywood when William Morris and Endeavor merged.”
King’s client roster grew to include Oprah Winfrey, Janet Jackson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Tyler Perry, helping him score a deal with his first film, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” which made over $50 million in the box office from a budget of $5.5 million, per Screen Rant. King also worked alongside Perry’s lawyers to create a “10-90” distribution deal for Perry’s TV shows, which would lead to 100 episodes entering syndication if the first 10 episodes faired well, notes NPR.
King worked overtime in comparison to his colleagues. While he was once the butt of jokes at meetings as he shared his ideas, his numbers spoke for themselves.
“The leaders at the top of William Morris and, frankly, the senior chairman level of a lot of the studios that I would interface with, they would usually get it,” King explained to NPR. “A lot of times, you find it’s the people in the middle that are, that are less visionary. And so, yeah, of course, there were moments where I would be discussing things or bringing up concepts at meetings and literally got laughed at. And then a few years later, I was running the meetings because I was generating 10 times more revenue than they were.”
Launch Of Macro
In 2015, King forged his own footprint, self-funding Macro, a multi-media platform empowering Black and underrepresented voices across film, television, and digital content alongside his wife, Stacey. Macro was also supported by Emerson Collective’s investors and partners as well as other investors.
“The mission behind it [is] shifting the narrative and widening the aperture of the content we see on all platforms while creating a multibillion-dollar company that creates value for the members building it and all stakeholders. But at the same time, we’re also reinvesting back in the community both from how we conduct business and from our complementary investment strategy,” King said, according to Forbes.
Macro’s first project, the film “Fences,” released in 2016 and grossed $64 million. It starred Denzel Washington and Viola Davis and led to an Oscar nomination for Washington and an Oscar win for Davis for Best Supporting Actress. Other projects under Macro’s portfolio include “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” (2017), also starring Denzel Washington; “Just Mercy,” which featured Michael B. Jordan (2019, grossed $50 million); and “Judas and the Black Messiah,” which underperformed at the box office but did earn six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Macro has released 18 feature films and two TV shows, as well as collected 15 Oscar nominations and three wins.
“This is not just about building a entertainment and media brand that will be around for generations,” he expressed to NPR. “This is also about lifting culture. It’s about creating opportunity. It’s about making our world better.”
Raising Over $150M
Macro has raised over $150 million since its inception, which includes a $90 million raise in 2023 led by BlackRock Alternatives, with participation from Harbourview Equity Partners, funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and more.
“This positions us to unleash the full potential of the MACRO ecosystem and to continue building upon the vast media and entertainment opportunities that exist globally. I’m immensely grateful to all of our MACRO family, partners and collaborators who have helped us to push the needle forward, and bring our mission to life. This is the fulfillment of a dream and we are not done yet,” he said on LinkedIn at the time.
AFROTECH™ Future 50
King’s contributions to the industry led to him being recognized by the Producers Guild of America with a Milestone Award in 2024. He is now being recognized as a Legacy Leader among the AFROTECH™ Future 50, which launched in 2022 to amplify Black leaders who are forward thinkers and changing the status quo in technology.
Future 50 categories are:
- Dynamic Investors
- Future Makers
- Visionary Founders
- Changemakers
- Corporate Catalysts
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Apply Today
A Legacy Leader exemplifies the qualities outlined above and serves as a compass. Do you believe your own journey has left a meaningful impact?
If you believe you qualify for this and other Future 50 categories, submission forms are now open until April 11, 2025.
