Mathew Knowles — longtime music manager, entrepreneur and father of Beyoncé and Solange — is bringing his 2017 memoir to the screen, according to his agent, Shawn Scallon at Buchwald.
Knowles has partnered with Say Unkel Entertainment to adapt the book, Racism From the Eyes of a Child, into a feature film as well as a limited series. The feature will cover the first half of the book, which goes into Knowles’ early life in Alabama as one of just six black students to attend an all-white school and his participation in peaceful protests calling for racial equality. It also addresses how the efforts of such figures as Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Turner and Ralph Abernathy helped shape the person he became.
Variety was first to report the news.
Robert Unkel, a former vp of programming at 20th Century Fox, told Variety the script for the feature is complete. Unkel will oversee the development of the project with producer Howard Kazanjian.
Knowles famously managed Destiny’s Child, the girl group featuring Beyoncé that rose to fame in the late 1990s and helped set the stage for her ascent to superstardom the following decade. He managed Beyoncé’s solo career until the two parted ways in 2011. Through his faith-based record label and management company Music World Entertainment, he has also managed such gospel acts as Brian Courtney Wilson, Trin-i-tee 5:7 and Destiny’s Child member Michelle Williams. In June, Knowles formed Music World TV, Film & Media, where he serves as CEO.