On Easter Sunday in 2014, Anthony Hemingway, a director and producer, was mingling with fellow congregants after a service at the Potter’s House at One LA in Los Angeles. Through the crowd gathered outside on La Brea Avenue, he noticed a friend chatting up a handsome stranger in a black suit, bow tie and round-frame glasses, bearing a striking resemblance to a young Malcolm X. “I was trying to be present in the conversation I was having, but I kept finding myself looking over and counting the seconds to get out of it,” Mr. Hemingway said. “I had to figure out who this guy was my friend was talking to.” The friend, Dondraico Johnson, who is an actor and choreographer, introduced Mr. Hemingway to the mysterious gentlemen, Steven Norfleet. The two would run into each other a few more times that year. But it wasn’t until December that Mr. Norfleet sent Mr. Hemingway a text after seeing he had liked one of his Instagram photos. They began exchanging messages.