James Lassiter is an American

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

, known for being co-founder of Overbrook Entertainment and longtime business partner of actor and

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...

Career

Lassiter attended

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

and

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

and befriended Jeffrey "Jazzy Jeff" Townes, who was in a rap duo with then-musician

. Lassiter met Smith through Townes, and he later became Smith's road manager. They worked together for two decades. Lassiter briefly worked with other companies including Handprint and The Firm, but he returned to being Will Smith's business partner. Lassiter and Smith formed the production company

Overbrook Entertainment Overbrook Entertainment is an American production company based in Culver City, California. It was founded by partners Will Smith and James Lassiter in 1998, around the same time production for ''Wild Wild West'' (1999) was started. The name "Ove ...

, which produced films like '' Hitch'' and '' ATL''. While

had a deal with

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

to produce films, none resulted, and the company was taken to Sony. The pair sought to market each of their productions to a different foreign market, promoting ''

I, Robot ''I, Robot'' is a fixup (compilation) novel of science fiction short stories or essays by American writer Isaac Asimov. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines ''Super Science Stories'' and ''Astounding Science Fiction'' betw ...

'' in Russia and ''

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

'' in South Africa.

Filmography

''He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.''

Film

;Music department

Television

;Thanks

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lassiter, James African-American film producers American film producers Living people Temple University alumni University of Miami alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American people