Activist, manager, producer, and curator Andrew Coles sits down with Denise to talk about the slowly changing landscape of Hollywood and the importance of creating opportunities for people who have historically been left out of the industry. Andrew dives into his unintentional career in entertainment, the cycle of IP mining, and legacy institutions.

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About Andrew Coles:

Andrew C. Coles is an activist, manager, producer, curator + DJ - he currently serves as the Founder & CEO of The Mission Entertainment. Upon graduating from Harvard with a degree in African-American studies, he moved to LA and began working at CAA before going to Overbrook Entertainment where he worked under Franklin Leonard (founder of The Black List), first as his assistant then junior executive. From Overbrook he relocated to New York to run development for Scott Rudin Productions, working across film, TV and theatre. In 2013, Andrew created The Mission Entertainment – a management + production company whose purpose and philosophical foundation lies in serving as advocates for storytellers that have been traditionally overlooked, undervalued and underrepresented. With a childhood dream of becoming a civil rights criminal defense attorney, Andrew has married his passions for storytelling + social justice advocacy through working in the entertainment industry – helping to create images that are truly representative of the world we live in.

On the production side, Andrew has recently served as Producer of Queen & Slim, Melina Matsoukas’s debut feature, starring Daniel Kaluuya + Jodie Turner Smith. Andrew also serves as Executive Producer of the BET series Twenties, which is wrapping production on its second season. He is currently incubating the mission radio, a non-profit art collective committed to personal transformation + world change through spirituality + creativity. In October of 2020, he opened The Mission on Kaua’i, a spiritual retreat and creative campus that serves as headquarters for the mission radio.