(Bloomberg) -- Hollywood budget cutting and dwindling support for inclusion and diversity initiatives are disproportionately affecting people of color who have long been underrepresented in the industry, according to the head of one of the largest media companies focused on Black entertainment and entertainers.
Job cuts have hammered the movie and television industry as consumers continue to shift their viewing habits from traditional TV and theaters to streaming services. It’s harder to get project financing, especially for up-and-coming talent, in an era of higher interest rates, shorter attention spans and algorithm-driven entertainment.
“It impacted everyone in the industry,” Charles D. King, founder and chief executive officer of Macro, said Tuesday at Bloomberg’s New Voices event in Los Angeles. “When you look at it globally, there’s a higher chance that it’s impacting the diverse community that much more.”
Efforts to diversify representation for people of color, women and other groups also have faced pushback, amid political attacks and the scaling back of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives in the corporate world.
“Many of us people from diverse communities who were the last ones hired, a lot of them were the first ones losing positions,” King said.
Since its establishment in 2015, King’s Macro has financed and produced films including Fences, Mudbound and Judas and the Black Messiah that have garnered 15 Oscar nominations and won three. Macro’s other divisions produce television series, run marketing and branding campaigns and manage talent, including director Ryan Coogler and actors Michael B. Jordan and Taraji P. Henson. King started Macro after earning a law degree at Howard University and working for William Morris Endeavor.
Macro raised more than $90 million last year from backers including BlackRock Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the Emerson Collective, the investment firm founded by Laurene Powell Jobs. Macro is about 25% to 30% toward its goal of building a $1 billion firm as it nears its 10th anniversary, he said.
“We’re on that trajectory,” he said. “But some of that’s going to have to come from a connection to consumers, and we’re also going to have to figure out thoughtful ways to scale.”
He declined to disclose any potential plans for new fundraising, but said he was fortunate the last round closed before the 2023 strikes by writers and directors halted production for months. Macro has a lot of dry powder, he said, with plans to expand internationally and five films in post-production.
“I’m in a unique and blessed position to truly be able to be an artist advocate, and to sit and engage and see the beauty and see the talent,” King said. “We’ve now been able to have real, valuable, incredible investor relationships and understand and speak the language that’s important to them as well, and being able to bridge the two.”
It’s a continual challenge to persuade investors to back projects, King said, despite evidence that entertainment with diverse cast, crew and storytellers appeal to a broader audience.
“Every day is still in the education process,” King said. “You would think that in 2024 that people, that executives that run studios, people with platforms, that they would understand the changing demographics.”
Macro’s goal is to become a brand familiar to consumers, King said. “We have a brand we’ve established inside of Hollywood. We need to figure out how to continue to build and get to more scale.”
(Updates with comment from King in final paragraph. An earlier version removed an incorrect reference to Idris Elba.)
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