EXCLUSIVE: Cole Brown, DreamCrew Entertainment, Jermaine Dupri, and Jami Gertz announced that production has wrapped on the forthcoming documentary series Magic City: An American Fantasy – a three-part series uncovering the story behind the famed Atlanta strip club, Magic City, and its decades-long influence on hip-hop. Drake joins the production through his DreamCrew Entertainment, with Executive Producers Adel “Future” Nur and Peter Nelson. Dupri joins with music executive Michael Mauldin as Executive Producer, and production company Scheme Engine.
Magic City has been an Atlanta institution and the launchpad for countless artists since 1985, leading to the club’s reputation as the “Black Studio 54” and the conventional wisdom: “If the girls in Magic City dance to it, it’s a hit.” The series offers an exclusive look into the enigmatic founder, Michael “Mr. Magic” Barney, and the lives of the many women responsible for building the club’s mystique.
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The series is directed by Charles Todd (Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase The Blues Away, LatinGrammy nominated King of Bachata) and produced by Scheme Engine–a BIPOC-owned studio with a strong focus on women and minority representation–with showrunner and Executive Producer Bayan Joonam and Producers Ashley Brooke and Marlowe Blue. “This genre bending docuseries will bring audiences an intoxicating experience that blurs the line between fantasy and reality,” says Joonam.
“This is a unique story of Black entrepreneurship and empire-building in a city that is the beating heart of Black culture,” says series creator Cole Brown, “I’m ecstatic to be working with a team that will give this story the authenticity and platform it deserves.” Magic City: An American Fantasy charts the rise and pitfalls of the Atlanta strip club and its sustained imprint on hip-hop culture, as told by employees, dancers, journalists, management, and countless celebrity interviews including 2 Chainz, Nelly, Shaquille O’Neal, Quavo, Killer Mike, Big Boi and others.
“Magic City is a second home for me. It’s the one place where celebrities, hustlers, politicians, and Atlanta locals all come together. I’ve watched it evolve over the years from a local joint to an internationally-recognized spot. It’s about time we tell this story the right way,” says EP Jermaine Dupri. In 1985, Barney opened a small club with one dancer. Over the years, Magic City would welcome superstars Michael Jordan, Madonna, Magic Johnson, Travis Scott, and Rihanna, to name a few.
The club holds a unique place in Black culture – it was the well-known hangout of notorious drug gang B.M.F. and the site of a widely-viewed get-out-the-vote announcement by former Georgia Governor Stacey Abrams in 2020. The docuseries connects the club’s aspirational lifestyle with the mainstream success of Southern sounds from the likes of Jermaine Dupri, Outkast, Future, Migos and more.
“The inner workings of Magic City and its prevalence in hip-hop are remarkably mysterious – it’s a wonder the story has yet to be told,” says Jami Gertz, Executive Producer, actress, and Atlanta Hawks team co-owner. “Atlanta is my adopted home and a place I’m looking forward to celebrating through this story.” The docuseries spans four decades, immersing viewers in a network of intertwining relationships between hip-hop, crime, women’s sexuality & commodification, Black entrepreneurship, and socio-economic politics.
The series affords viewers exclusive access to the epic footage and records cemented by the club’s DJs and dancers, high-stakes drug and crime conspiracies, and unbelievable champagne-drenched parties attended by hip-hop royalty. Michael Barney’s evolution to Mr. Magic is a story of the American Dream, and his club is a case study for the examination of hip-hop’s most classic tropes.
Producers were granted exclusive access to the club and its founder, Mr. Magic. The series features exclusive celebrity interviews with hard-to-believe anecdotes, never-before-seen archival footage and impressionistic imagery inspired by first-hand accounts of a “night at Magic City.”
The series is independently funded with distribution rights to be brokered by CAA’s Bobby Kenner and Joe Aiken and Fox Rothschild’s Darrell Miller.
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