Anonymous Content to Adapt Baldwin: A Love Story With Higher Ground
Anonymous Content will turn Baldwin: A Love Story into a feature film, with writer Nicholas Boggs adapting his own book for the screen.
The adaptation will be co-produced with Higher Ground, meaning the two companies will share the work and cost of bringing it to screens. Author Marlon James is collaborating with Boggs on the script. The company disclosed the project on Thursday at the Bloomberg Screentime conference, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The source is Baldwin: A Love Story by Boggs, which critic Louis Menand reviewed for The New Yorker. The title refers to James Baldwin, the author of The Fire Next Time. The film version has Boggs as the credited screenwriter, with James attached as collaborator.
The announcement came from chief executive Darren Walker. He spoke at the Screentime event to outline his plans for the company. His comments were reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Those plans centre on money and role. Anonymous Content intends to operate as a financier in the film marketplace, putting its own capital into films. That is different from working only as a fee-for-hire production company, which is paid a fee to make a film or series for someone else. For audiences, that distinction decides who puts money at risk before tickets are sold.
Walker took the top job in January. He had previously served as president of the Ford Foundation. His appointment coincided with a material investment in Anonymous Content from Emerson Collective. The chief executive sets the slate and spending, so the change at the top matters for what gets made.
Leadership changes extend to the board. Laurene Powell Jobs is joining as part of a reconstitution of the board. Former HBO chief executive Richard Plepler is joining alongside her. A board oversees strategy and signs off on major commitments.
The company traces its history to 1999, when it was founded by Steve Golin, according to Anonymous Content. It now operates under Walker with new backing and new board members. The structure is changing first. The films follow.
Walker has committed to making a minimum of eight films over the next year. That is a pace of more than one film every two months. No other titles beyond Baldwin were detailed in the report. A minimum commitment sets a floor, not a ceiling.
What makes this stand out is the pairing. A literary life story opens the slate. The eight-film pledge gives audiences a way to track what comes next.
