Business:Entrepreneurship
Rashaad King is an American screenwriter, film and television producer, actor, author, activist, speaker, talk show host and entrepreneur. He is best known for Conversations for a Change and Fear Thyself. He is the founder of Lifeline Creative Industries, an entertainment and lifestyle company based out of Los Angeles. From Atlanta, Georgia, he began his entertainment career at the young age of 19 when he wrote, produced and directed his first project, A Dream Deferred, a short film loosely based on his failed childhood aspirations of growing up to become a preacher.
After working on A Dream Deferred, Rashaad went on and worked on many different projects in several production and talent roles in film, theater and television. These roles included production assistant, casting director, boom operator, camera operator for the Emmy Award winning television broadcast Taking Authority and as an uncredited 2 nd AD on feature film Truth Seekers. Since being in the industry since 2008, Rashaad met lots of people in the entertainment industry and continued to meet people that were in need of representation.
So in 2011 he launched Lifeline Talent Management, a boutique talent management firm in which he represented actors, singers, music executives and other talent. He did this while launching Lifeline Creative Radio in 2012, in which he was host and producer. This was the beginning of the Lifeline Creative Brands. In 2013, Rashaad released his first book, an e-book, A Black Man’s Blues Volume 1: The Introduction, a personal collection of his artistic works which featured themes of fatherlessness and discrimination of Black men. He also became an Ambassador for OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network and began partnering with entertainment companies and organizations such as Paramount Pictures and Values Partnerships on different film campaigns and initiatives.
He has worked directly with Oprah Winfrey organizing marketing efforts for a number of films including the 2014 film, Selma, and the 2016 film, 13 th , both directed by Ava DuVernay. After seeing the film Selma three times before it was released nationally, Rashaad was moved internally and the activist within that had long been put to sleep was revived. In a matter of days, he co-created the civil rights initiative OurTurn365 with entrepreneurs Tierra Destiny Reid, Felisha Renae, Renita Bryant and actress Kaira Akita. As a result of this concept, OurTurn365 partnered with the A.D. King Foundation during the 2015 nationwide premiere of Selma. After the screening, Rashaad, Tierra and Renita were panelists alongside Civil Rights Icons Naomi Ruth Barber King (wife to the late A.D. King, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s younger brother), Able Mable Thomas and others that were directly involved with the SCLC and SNCC during the Selma to Montgomery march and protests in the 1960’s that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This partnership, 50 years after the signing of the Voting Rights Act, was valued by all involved as its intent was to share wisdom and experience and bridge the generational gap between elders of the Civil Rights Movement and the newest generation of leaders in the Movement’s advancement in the 21 st century.
2015 would prove to be both a great and challenging year for Rashaad. In 2015, a week after the premiere of Selma, his grandmother passed away unexpectedly and three months later, his mother passed away unexpectedly as well. One week later, he was fired from his job and made the hard decision to move to Los Angeles. Once in Los Angeles, he continued to wrestle with life but finally regained his footing and found his way back into the industry as a judge for Project Greenlight and as a reader for the Austin Film Festival. In 2016, he made his debut as an actor in a supporting role in the web series Happy Hour. He produced three short films and partnered with the Los Angeles Public Library for the premiere of his film, Fear Thyself, a short film following the life of a Type-1 diabetic. Not only has he continued to work as a writer and producer, he has worked as a Production Assistant for Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter, Production Manager of a live event entertainment company (in which he was awarded Production Manager of the Year) and also as a Social Media Influencer and Consultant, contributing to a number of film festivals including the Oscar-qualifying Holly Shorts Film Festival, the San Pedro International Film Festival and briefly for the Pembroke Taparelli Arts and Film Festival.
He is working with the NAACP Image Awards and has joined the writer’s room of a new web series created and produced by Alicia Agramonte. He is developing a follow-up to Fear Thyself, to focus on Type 2 diabetes. Rashaad is a member of ARRAY and the Hollywood Diversity Association. Find out more! http://RashaadKing.com
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