Sixx King speaks with the composed assurance of someone who has weathered storms to reach clear skies. The independent filmmaker’s journey to bring “Jonesing: When Love Is a Habit” to AMC theaters nationwide represents a masterclass in creative determination. As founder of Sixx Degrees Media, a multimedia empire that has quietly amassed him a reported $42 million net worth, King has operated largely behind the scenes of the industry, producing music videos for multi-platinum artists and pioneering early streaming innovations. Now, with his latest film, he steps firmly into the spotlight as a champion for authentic Black love stories.
“There was a time I had less than $200 in my pocket standing in a room with billionaires, pitching my vision,” King recalls, reflecting on the precarious path that led to his distribution deal. “The next day, AMC called to partner on a national rollout.”
Authoring the counternarrative
When asked about the stories he chooses to tell, King leans forward with purpose. “We have to be the author of our stories,” he insists. “They are entrenched in levels of dysfunction that can be one of them, but also beauty and also success, and those things that we rarely hear about in media today.”
This philosophy drives “Jonesing: When Love Is a Habit,” a film that intentionally subverts the dysfunction-centered narratives that dominate much of Black storytelling in mainstream media. The film reimagines what might have happened if the characters portrayed by Larenz Tate and Nia Long in the 1997 classic “Love Jones” had continued their love story and had a daughter who becomes a poet navigating romance in the digital age.
“Jonesing is that old school of just wanting, of desire, of something that you had and you need it again, but it’s not nefarious,” King explains. “It’s love, and it’s in this poetic rhyme of someone looking for something old school in a new era.”
The film touches on themes of vulnerability, particularly male vulnerability, a subject King approaches with thoughtful consideration. “It is simple as this, people believe what you do, they don’t believe what you say,” he notes, referencing wisdom from a Southern aunt. “I wanted to lead with these conversations that young Black men have when they are vulnerable, when their feelings are on the line, and how to navigate through that.”
The preservation of cultural authenticity
For King, the decision to self-finance “Jonesing” wasn’t merely financial, it was fundamental to preserving his artistic vision.
“You have to be willing and able to go forward, and to not only protect your art but to be a vanguard for it,” he says firmly. “Not by corporate standards, not by someone who doesn’t have this lived experience, not by someone that is Googling this experience. But someone who has this lived experience.”
This commitment to authenticity guided every aspect of production. King describes the film as “true connection, not off-brand connection”, a distinction he believes audiences can innately recognize. In an industry where Black love stories often face studio interference or market-driven compromises, King’s approach represents a principled alternative.
“It is not those that are saying, we need to make this top dollar, or economically driven. It is pure art,” he emphasizes. “The only way that I could do that is, independently. I had to make it happen, and I did. I took that route of sacrifice.”
The 3 essential elements for aspiring filmmakers
When discussing advice for other directors trying to bring their visions to life, King distills his experience into three crucial elements:
Perseverance: “You have to have perseverance, you have to have those no’s,” King states, referring to the countless rejections independent filmmakers inevitably face.
Sacrifice: “Arm yourself with sacrifice,” he advises, recounting his own dramatic sacrifices to fund his film. “I sold my car, I sold some personal things. I turned down no job. I was directing and shooting from birthdays to bar mitzvahs.”
Love for the art: The final and perhaps most crucial element is genuine passion that supersedes material attachments. “I love telling the story more than my car, more than personal things, jewelry, or things that I was attached to,” King reflects. “I love the art more.”
This triad of qualities, perseverance, sacrifice, and artistic devotion, served as King’s north star throughout a production process filled with uncertainty. Initially having enough money to shoot just three days, King ultimately pieced together a 10-day shoot through a series of fortuitous events that he attributes to divine timing.
Divine intervention or divine intention?
The narrative of “Jonesing’s” creation takes on an almost mythic quality as King recounts the synchronicities that propelled the project forward.
On the eighth day of shooting, the anniversary of his uncle’s passing, King experienced a poignant moment involving a fortune cookie prop used in the film. When one accidentally fell and broke open, it revealed the message “Keep on keeping on”, his uncle’s life mantra. The next day, actor Malik Yoba called to join the cast, followed by an invitation to a New York screening where King would meet industry titans including Tyler Perry, Nicole Avant, and Jerry Seinfeld.
“I always tell people people are waiting for a divine intervention, when you should be intervening with divinity,” King says, summarizing his philosophical approach to manifesting his vision.
This proactive spiritual stance propelled King through financial uncertainty, at one point having just $430 remaining after paying his crew, toward an AMC distribution deal that now brings his vision of Black love to audiences nationwide.
“When you love somebody,” King concludes, “if you make it a habit, as opposed to a chore, you’re gonna love doing it. It’s gonna be consistent each and every time.”
For audiences seeking a refreshing counternarrative to conventional portrayals of Black relationships, “Jonesing: When Love Is a Habit” arrives exclusively in AMC theaters on June 27th. Additional information is available at lovejonesmovie.com and on Instagram at @Jonesingmovie.
