Phillip Madison Jones: behind-the-scenes player behind King film rights deal

He’s a painter, a songwriter and an Emmy-nominated producer. And if the big-screen version of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life comes to a theater near you, he will be remembered as the behind-the-scenes player who got the deal done.

For more than 20 years, Phillip Madison Jones has been a major force in the King family’s sometimes controversial licensing of the civil rights legend’s words and images. Jones last week helped orchestrate the highest-profile deal to date, with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio.

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Phillip Madison Jones helped orchestrate deal for the film rights on Martin Luther King to Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio.

• PDF: Coretta Scott King thanks Phillip Madison Jones for his work on behalf of the King estate, and offers him roles in more "revenue-producing opportunities."
• PDF: Coretta King adds a handwritten note thanking Jones for "the many ways in which you help us advance Dr. King's dream," and for aiding Dexter King's efforts.

• More on Martin Luther King

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Jones said his work is intended to protect the intellectual property rights of King’s legacy for the King family. But some family members contend his main goal is building an empire and a fortune for himself.

“I do what I love, and I never am sure what the money is,” the 50-year-old Jones said in a telephone interview. “I do the kinds of things I believe in, and with people I enjoy. I don’t always look at the bottom line.”

He has garnered his share of fans and critics over the years, and has landed smack-dab in the latest brawl by the King family siblings over their father’s legacy.

Jones is a skillful negotiator who deftly handled the $32 million transfer of the King Papers from an auction house to Morehouse College, said John Ahmann, executive director of the Atlanta Committee for Progress, a business-led led group that works with the Mayor Shirley Franklin on economic development issues.

“He was very professional and had integrity throughout the process,” Ahmann said. “He was an aggressive negotiator for the King estate. But we found him always to be above board. He was a good partner to negotiate a very complex deal in a very short amount of time.”

Feud could stall film

Currently Jones is co-CEO with Hollywood producer Suzanne de Passe of the iDream Company, as well as CEO of Different Drummer Communications Inc. and DDC Licensing. Jones took a proposal for a biographical King film to De Passe, a longtime Hollywood player who completed the deal with Spielberg’s studio.

He now stands on the precipice of a major film deal, but he’s also become a pivotal character in the ongoing King family feud. The three surviving siblings are now battling each other in court and in the media over the handling of their late parents’ estates. Their bickering threatens to derail the very film deal Jones helped negotiate.

Martin Luther King III and his sister, Bernice King, have gone to war with their brother, Dexter King, over who controls the estates of MLK Jr. and his late wife, Coretta Scott King. At stake are millions of dollars and, some believe, the reputation of the King family.

Some King family members contend that Jones has become a self-promoter for himself and Dexter King, effectively cutting them out of any negotiations involving their father’s legacy. The latest blow, Martin King III said in a telephone interview, came with the announcement of the Spielberg deal.

“At 3 a.m. Tuesday California time — 6 a.m. Atlanta time — Dexter sent us a press release,” Martin King III said. “That’s how we found out about the movie. Personally, I don’t like the way [Jones] does business.”

Bernice King, a minister in Atlanta, was equally critical.

“Phillip, as far as I’m concerned, has spent his entire adult life trying to achieve fame and fortune from the King legacy,” she said. “He has never represented the family interest, but has represented his interests and Dexter’s.”

Dexter King, on the other hand, said Friday that Jones has been a “tremendous asset” in the family’s effort to educate the world about King’s teachings.

“He has always demonstrated honesty and integrity in all of his dealings with the King estate, and he has worked tirelessly to ensure that our family has been fairly treated in business partnerships,” Dexter King said. “I have every confidence in his dedication to Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.”

Martin King III said Jones has tried to play peacemaker in this latest skirmish, reaching out to a “secondary person to pull us together.” He added that he is convinced the siblings can come to an agreement, but doubted any peace treaty would be ironed out by Jones.

“He’s creative, but I don’t think he’s performed in the best interest of the family,” he said.

‘I live for the arts’

Jones, like Dexter King, lives in the Los Angeles area and moves in the circles of lawyers, producers, writers and actors who people Hollywood and the filmmaking industry. Jones is not only close to Dexter King, but was friends with another King sibling, Yolanda King, who was at Jones’ home when she died of a heart attack a few years back.

“I opened the door and she hugged me and said, ‘Hey Madison,”’ Jones recalled. ” The phone rang, and I turned to answer it. When I turned around she was laying in the door well. I didn’t even hear her fall.”

Jones goes by “Madison” as his professional name, but many of his close friends and associates call him Phillip or Phil.

An entrepreneur with an artistic bent, Jones has been involved in the realms of film, television, animation, theater and book publishing for more nearly three decades. He paints abstracts to relax, and has written and published several songs.

“I live for the arts,” said Jones, who laughed easily when discussing his artistic shortcomings. “People only know me for the business stuff. But I paint, I write. I am a legend in my own mind in that I think I might have some talent.”

‘We’re like brothers’

Jones’ connection to the King family began in the late 1970s when he met Dexter King at Morehouse College, where both were students. Although both were interested in the same woman, Jones said, a potential confrontation morphed into a lasting friendship.

They came from very different worlds. Dexter King was the youngest son of one of the 20th century’s most influential men. Jones describes a hard-scrabble Northern background that included biracial parents (his mother was Jewish, his father African-American), adoption, a dysfunctional second family and even a period of homelessness when he slept in bus stations.

Morehouse, where he went on scholarship, and the King legacy changed everything, he said. He and Dexter King “clicked spiritually” as soon as they met and have remained close friends and business associates over the decades.

“We’re not blood,” Jones said, “but we are like brothers.”

Jones moved to New York City after college, but returned to Atlanta a few years later at Dexter King’s urging. He became chairman and CEO of Intellectual Properties Management, which managed the King estate, and began doing deals.

Jones said he also became very close to Coretta Scott King. Though Bernice and Martin King III disputed that notion, Jones produced a pair of letters in which Mrs. King praised his efforts and encouraged his continued involvement with the “King Estate.”

“Mrs. King asked me to work with the estate of Dr. King. It was not Dexter,” Jones said. “My role was to manage the intellectual property as asked by Mrs. King. I’ve been there doing it a long time, so I must be doing something right.”

Lynn Cothren, who worked at the King Center for 23 years and was once special assistant to Mrs. King, said Jones has overstated his relationship with Mrs. King.

“I think Phil is very smart and he has benefited financially more than anyone I know off the King legacy,” said Cothren, now New York-based director of administration for the Girl Scouts. “I’m not saying that is good or bad. It’s just a fact. He has done what Dexter wanted him to do. Dexter gave him the power.”

The proper producer?

Jones recently produced the pilot for a series of what he admits are “racy” television shows based on the novels of African-American writer Zane, a best-selling novelist who writes erotic romances aimed at black women. He is also listed as producer of a soon-to-be released science fiction movie about a murderous half-alien, half-human.

Martin King III said Jones’ association with those projects brings into question his involvement in a film on the life of Dr. King.

“Maybe some would say it’s soft-core porn,” Martin King III said of Jones’ television productions. “I’m not sure the person producing those is the best person to be producing a King film.”

Bernice King said the bigger issue for her is the autocratic control being wielded over her father’s copyrighted material.

“Our father fought for fairness, equality and the right to vote, and none of that is taking place as it relates to managing this legacy,” Bernice King said. “There’s one man running it like it was his empire, and that is Dexter King. And Phillip Jones helps to fuel it.”