Episode 46: OnWriting Live - Shaka King, "Judas and the Black Messiah"

OnWriting presents three live-taped episodes of OnWriting celebrating Black History Month, presented by the WGAE Black Writers Salon. In each installment, two co-chairs of the WGAE Black Writers Salon—OnWriting’s own Geri Cole and Rashidi Hendrix—speak with Black screenwriters who have each written amazing films about Black icons in history.

For the third & final installment of the series, Geri and Rashidi speak with Shaka King, co-writer and director of JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH.

Shaka King is a screenwriter, director, and producer. His debut feature film, NEWLYWEEDS, premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win the Someone to Watch Award at the 2014 Independent Spirit Awards. He then cowrote and directed the short film MULIGNANS, with which he and cowriter Kristan Sprague competed in the USA Narrative Short Film Program at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and for which they received the Nantucket Film Festival Screenwriting Award. He also co-wrote and directed the 2017 short film LAZERCISM, starring LaKeith Stanfield. On the small screen, King has written and directed episodes of several series, including HIGH MAINTENANCE, SHRILL, and RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS.

His latest project is JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH – the powerful true story of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) – chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party – and his betrayal by FBI informant William O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), which led to Hampton being executed in bed in a pre-dawn raid by Chicago law enforcement. Screenplay by Will Berson and Shaka King; Story by Will Berson, Shaka King, and Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas (better known as the Lucas Brothers); Directed by Shaka King. The film will be available to stream on HBO Max until Sunday, March 14.

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