Mentorship and building a network that cultivates sustainable careers is at the core of Hoorae Media, the independent production company founded by Issa Rae. And that ethos continues with the company’s talent management firm ColorCreative, which takes on a “360” approach to reveal its clients’ full potential.
ColorCreative began as a networking space where Rae and cofounder Deniese Davis passed along constructive career advice to emerging creators in the entertainment business following the success of Rae’s hit YouTube series “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl.” In 2019, ColorCreative hired its first manager, Ashley Calloway, and that’s when a seedling of an idea bloomed into the two plotting their own stake in the talent management industry.
Today, Talitha Watkins serves as president and head of ColorCreative Management.
“Issa and Deniese [were] kind of looking at what was there and saying, ‘Hmm, I wonder if we turn this into a full-fledged management company? Could we have the support of the industry? Could we make a run at it?’” Watkins, who previously served as motion picture agent and cultural executive at CAA, told TheWrap. “And when I met with them at the top of 2020, I was really giving them guidance on what I thought it could be, ways to build the company out.”
Today, ColorCreative represents a slew of stars in several areas of Hollywood, including Robert Townsend, Joshua Neal, Mark Eydelshteyn, Tabitha Brown, Affion Crockett, Teyonah Parris and Lashana Lynch. The key to their practice is coaching their clients by providing them with the proper tools, resources and connections while also trusting them with the baton to finish their own race.
Read on for Watkins’ full Office With a View interview below.
What was the ideation behind starting a talent management firm within Hoorae?
ColorCreative started as a way for my two co-founders, Issa Rae and Deniese Davis, to be able to give back guidance, mentorship and community support to other emerging creators who were hoping to find their way into the entertainment industry. So the company’s actually been around for 10 years. It started in 2014 and it started as a way for Issa, Deniese and the rest of the crew around “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl” to share what they’ve learned in terms of finding representation, what makes a great script, how to pitch or what have you. So what the company would do at the time would be host networking events.
When I met with them at the top of 2020, I was really giving them guidance on what I thought it could be, ways to build the company out. I was at CAA at the time, and I known Ashley [Calloway] from our time there together. One thing led to the other, and after the awareness of Amy Cooper calling the police on the Black bird watcher, and then the George Floyd live killing on television, I was questioning a lot of like, “What am I really doing? What kind of impact am I really making as a representative?” And then the conversations with Issa and Deniese led to them making me an offer to come and run ColorCreative. So I’ve been with the company since 2020, and four years into my time here, I’m just really excited to be in this independent space and representation.
So much change has happened. I could not have predicted this. I did not have a crystal ball, but we certainly have been in the front of some really good tailwinds in terms of the shift in representation … in terms of ownership structure in the representation space.
Why do you feel like brands, studios and production houses are leaning more on social media influencers. Is this because there’s already an audience there?
I’ll put on my marketing hat from my career before being a producer and being a representative. You have to have an ROI (Return on Investment) for any dollar that’s spent, and to be honest, it just makes it a lot easier to track reach and return on investment. When you have an influencer or a talent who has an audience and knows how to engage that audience, it just makes it a lot more seamless to be able to then roll that into some kind of metric that you can give to the brand or the studio, or whoever you’re working with and working for or partnering with.
What are the resources ColorCreative provides talent?
I’d say we are 360. We try to meet and exceed the ambition of our clients at any given moment. It is really a relay and a baton pass when it comes to real, symbiotic, successful representation. It’s like, “OK, this is where I’ve gotten this, I’m going to take it the next leg,” right? So it’s kind of like a baton pass back and forth. It’s a longer relationship than in some of the other areas of representation. Some of it comes on and off, and some of it is more just transactional: Get the job, sign the job, do the job, move on.
We are definitely more invested in, “OK, what does this job mean for the next job? How does this PR help highlight the other thing? OK, while we’ve got this going on, let’s bring this to the forefront, because this has been simmering in the back.” So we’re thinking more 360 around a client’s needs. Let’s say the client is the star player on the team. We like to be the coach, but ultimately, they’re out there running the race and making the content happen. We have over 100 years of experience under the ColorCreative roof. Now, I hope we’re learning from each other and being collaborative and helping to guide clients to making the best decision based on the information that’s available.
Your roster ranges from longtime entertainers like Robert Townsend to fresh faces like Joshua Neal. What are you seeing in talent that makes you want to sign or work with them?
Robert is just a dream come true. I’ve known him since I was in marketing and had the fortune of bringing him to CAA as a client, and then staying with him as I left CAA to become a manager. And not too dissimilar from Joshua — like, he is a pioneer. He creates things on his own, he branches out, he serves an audience. It’s just such a pleasure to be able to work with someone who has such an incredible history, has so much more that he wants to and can do, and also has a heart for how we like to build our business, which is under the principles of transparency. We want to be able to tell you the truth as not only an artist, but an operator of your own business, in your own empire. We want to help you own something.
We are built on mentorship. That’s where our company started. Oftentimes I’ll call my clients and say, “Hey, can you come and be a part of this thing and show up for this community event that we’re doing?” Because sometimes just seeing that you’re in the same room as someone like Robert Townsend [as an] emerging creator is all you need to go back and finish that script or shoot that scene.
There are seven managers that work at the company right now, and we all just want to be moved in some way. Moved to tears, moved to laughter and also just moved by the client’s ambition.
You all cover a myriad of areas in the arts, from writers to directors to actors. Is there any craft, talent-wise, that you’ve yet to explore and would like to?
We have a few people who are digital native; they started their career on social media or in digital platforms, and that’s an area that we’d like to cultivate more. It’s a very specific area. So just looking for the right partner to do that with, meaning a manager who has a vision for their practice and would want to bring that here to do that with us. We feel like we’re perfectly set up to tell that story, given who Issa is and how she started her career. And I’m really excited about doing more things global. I’m really excited about doing more things with brand. We have a really great relationship with Canva and been involved with them in our Emerging Creators Program. We got them placed in our film “One of Them Days,” and we just came back from a conference with them — just really enjoying that relationship and exposing people.
What else is ColorCreative looking forward to in this next chapter?
I’m super excited about everything coming up in 2025. We just had a No. 1 movie on Hulu, “The Honorable Shyne” — that was a project that ColorCreative was hired to produce and then brought on as a creative producer as the project went on. It’s actually our second documentary. We had one with our client, TT the Artist, “Dark City Beneath the Beat.” So excited about more production, excited about the Tubi Studios partnership that we have in helping emerging creators to tell their stories in a long form way.
And “One of Them Days” started as a ColorCreative Lab at Columbia Pictures. Syreeta Singleton, our client, her script went into full development. We attached our client, Lawrence Lamont, to direct it. He did a fantastic job, Syreeta did a beautiful job. As a producer on the project, you know Keke [Palmer] and Sza, who could think of a better dream come true. There hasn’t been a Black female comedy duo since “B.A.P.S,” and we get to say that we work with both of those creators. So, I mean, I’m pinching myself, and I’m excited for what’s to come. I hope that by kicking off 2025 with pure joy, pure bestie joy of “One of Them Days” that it really just ushers in a time of laughter, joy and happiness despite whatever else is going on in the world.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
