Early life and career

Handy was born and raised in Oakland, California.^[2] He took a television production class at the age of 14,^[3] and subsequently began producing and directing music videos for artists such as En Vogue, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, E-40, and Master P before working in television.^[2] Handy produced scripted and unscripted television series for BET, MTV and Fox.^[4][5] He became senior vice president of original programming at Bounce TV in 2014, where he produced series such as Mann & Wife, Family Time and Saints & Sinners.^[6][5] He left after the network was purchased by E. W. Scripps Company in 2017, to found his own production company.^[7]

Sunwise Media

Handy co-founded Sunwise Media with Elverage Allen in 2018. He has written, produced and directed a number of films and television series, such as Hope Village and Unsolved History.^[8]

Handy is the showrunner of Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Forward, hosted by Craig Robinson,^[5] which premiered on NBC on October 1, 2022.^[9] The series follows the Harlem Globetrotters through their tours and games, and shines a light on their community outreach.^[10] The show's first season was successful, garnering high ratings among young Black viewers^[11] and receiving an Emmy nomination.^[12]

He is the creator of the documentary series Rebuilding Black Wall Street: Greenwood about the reconstruction of Greenwood District, Tulsa after its destruction during the Tulsa race massacre.^[13] The series, which is hosted by Morris Chestnut, premiered on OWN on September 29, 2023.^[14]

Diversity in film editing, Handy Foundation

On June 16, 2020, Handy made a post seeking Black, unionized film editors on a Facebook group for film editors which had around 14,000 members.^[15] Handy wanted to make a list of Black editors in the industry after receiving a number of calls from film executives seeking Black film editors in the wake of the George Floyd protests.^[16] The post went viral and generated controversy among film editors, with some white editors claiming that it was reverse racism and demanding the post be taken down. An attorney began tweeting screenshots of replies to the post, many of which contained racist comments.^[17][18]>^[19]

The controversy sparked a larger discussion about the marginalization of people of color in the film industry, with producers such as Ava DuVernay, Matthew A. Cherry and Gina Prince-Bythewood speaking in support of Handy.^[20][16] At the time, only 5% of unionized production crew members in the industry were Black.^[21] In response to these events, Handy established the Handy Foundation, which provides training and job placement programs to early career production crew.^[22] The foundation partnered with the Motion Picture Editors Guild, the Los Angeles Urban League,^[23] and a number of studios and production companies.^[21][24] African-American Film Critics Association president Gil Robertson IV wrote that initiatives like Handy's were needed to reform the industry.^[25]