Color Force, the independent film and television production company behind “The Hunger Games” franchise, “American Crime Story” and “Crazy Rich Asians,” has appointed producer Khaliah Neal as its new head of film.
In her new role, Neal will oversee Color Force’s film division and manage the execution of the company’s recently announced overall producing deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment. The announcement was made by founder Nina Jacobson and partner Brad Simpson.
“Khaliah is a rare talent with a track record for producing impactful projects,” Jacobson and Simpson said in a joint statement. “Her sharp creative instincts and passion for telling groundbreaking stories resonate completely with what we do. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have her join the Color Force family and steer our future slate of feature films through our new partnership with Sony.”
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Neal joins Color Force from Melina Matsoukas’ production company, Dela Revolucíon Films, where she served as head of film and TV. In that capacity, she served as co-executive producer for Apple’s series “The Changeling,” created by Kelly Marcel and starring LaKeith Stanfield. Neal is also known for producing the critically acclaimed feature “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” which A24 released to great acclaim after it premiered at Sundance, and for executive producing the NAACP Award-winning and Gotham Award-nominated TV series “P-Valley” for Starz.
“As a longtime admirer of Color Force’s work with rising talent, thought-provoking stories and an inclusive culture, I look forward to this next chapter with Nina and Brad,” Neal said in a statement. “As true pioneers and bold innovators in the industry, I cannot wait to join this fantastic team of fearless, visionary risktakers who absolutely love what they do.”
At Dela Revolucíon Films, Neal developed “Bust,” an adaptation of the play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Zora Howard that is set to debut in 2025 via a co-production between Alliance and the Goodman theaters; “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Marlon James; HBO’s “Unruly” starring Mahershala Ali; and onyx and Hulu’s Emmy-nominated unscripted series “Searching for Soul Food.” Prior to Dela Revolucíon Films, Neal was active across scripted film, television and documentaries. Her feature documentary work includes “10 Bullets,”which aired on HBO and was Oscar shortlisted; Netflix’s “The Rachel Divide”; and “25 To Life,” which also debuted on Netflix and won the CNN grand jury prize for best documentary at the American Black Film Festival. In recent years, Khaliah was an executive atMichael B. Jordan’s production company, Outlier Society, where she helped develop “61st Street” for AMC; the Peabody-winning drama series “David Makes Man” for Own; the feature adaptation of the fantasy novel “Black Leopard, Red Wolf”; the comedy feature “Fashionably Black” for Max; and the series “Friday Black” for Hulu, created by bestselling author Nana Adjei-Brenyah. She began her career at Focus Features in New York.
Color Force produced this summer’s hit FX’s limited series “Clipped,” about the downfall of L.A. Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling, as well as FX’s Emmy-winning “Pose.” Upcoming projects include “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez,” which is set to premiere on Sept. 17, and the limited series “Say Nothing,” adapted from writer Patrick Radden Keefe’s bestselling book “Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory. Both projects are for FX. In addition to the company’s recently announced film producing deal with Sony, it was also just announced Color Force will produce the upcoming feature adaptation of “Sunrise on the Reaping,” the newest book in “The Hunger Games” series.
