MACRO founder and CEO Charles D. King has teamed up with WME partner Phillip Sun to form M88, a representation firm that will focus on diverse voices. M88’s first client is actor Michael B. Jordan.
The media company—historically focused on helping to produce stories told by creators of color including “Sorry to Bother You” and the upcoming “Judas and the Black Messiah” starring Daniel Kaluuya—is set to expand its investment portfolio to represent actors, writers, and storytellers, and will be majority owner; the production company recently launched MACRO Management, which will be merged with M88. Sun will leave WME to become president and managing partner of M88.
Diversity and inclusion have been a focus in Sun’s career where at WME his clients included Idris Elba, Rihanna, Gemma Chan, and more. Sun is also one of the first Asian-American agents to be promoted to partner at WME. He co-founded Empower, the diversity initiative at WME that supported employees as they rose in the agency. Sun has partnered with Jordan to launch the actor’s production company, Outlier Society, which currently has first-look deals at Warner Bros. and Amazon Studios. Jordan and Sun also helped craft WarnerMedia’s inclusion policy, the first of its kind for a studio.
Jordan starred in the 2019 MACRO film “Just Mercy”; though he will be represented by M88, Jordan will continue to be represented by WME. According to the Hollywood Reporter who broke the news, Sun’s other clients will also join M88, while still being represented by WME.
Two other agents have signed on to work with M88 as partners: Jelani Johnson, formerly with CAA, and Gaby Mena, formerly of Paradigm Agency.
King, a former partner and agent in the motion pictures department at WME, launched MACRO in 2015 as a multiplatform media company. In the five years since its founding, MACRO has released 10 feature films and two TV shows including Netflix’s “Gentefied,” plus earned nine Oscar nominations and one win; their titles include “Fences,” “Mudbound,” and “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”
In addition to M88, MACRO is currently investing in influencer and branded content partnerships and in technology companies. King is the first African-American agent to rise from WME’s training program to partner. He is also a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.