Beats By Dre and movie producer Charles D. King’s MACRO company have joined forces to help students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Atlanta pursue their Hollywood film dreams.
According to a press release shared with AfroTech, the two companies have partnered together on a film pitch competition that will grant current students and recent alumni of four Atlanta HBCUs the chance to pitch their film passion projects to top Hollywood executives. Winners of the competition will then get the opportunity to attend the Beats Black Creators Summit later this year and The 2022 MACRO Lodge at Sundance Film Festival in January 2022.
Eligible students who will be considered for the pitch competition must be at least 18-years-old and matriculate from either Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University or Morris Brown College. At a time where representation in the film industry is key to advancing the conversation around diversity and inclusion in Hollywood, MACRO and Beats By Dre’s pitch competition will help usher in more opportunities for the next generation of diverse filmmakers.
“I’m so excited to be partnering with Beats on this incredible initiative,” Stacey Walker King — Chief Brand Officer of MACRO and wife of King — said in a statement. “Discovering and empowering Black and brown creatives is at the core of the mission of MACRO and I know this effort is just one more step in how we work to increase access and opportunity for the next generation of innovators.”
Charles D. King — who’s known for producing films like “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Sorry to Bother You” — founded his multi-platform media company back in 2015 as part of an effort to provide more industry-powered resources and representation for Black and people of color across creative avenues. Building on Beats’ long-standing commitment to empowering Black talent and HBCU students across the country, the new partnership between the audio brand and MACRO will offer these young Black creators constructive feedback on their next big film idea.
Applications for the film pitch competition are being accepted now until Sept. 7. Winners will be announced at The 3rd Annual MACRO HBCU Entertainment Summit on Oct. 28.
For more information on how to apply for the competition, click here.