Anonymous Content and Higher Ground develop James Baldwin film
A feature film about writer James Baldwin is in development at Anonymous Content, to be produced with Higher Ground, the Obamas' production company.
Anonymous Content chief executive Darren Walker disclosed the project at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles, where he appeared alongside Laurene Powell Jobs, according to Deadline. No cast or release plan was announced. The film is at the script stage.
The script has been commissioned from Marlon James and Nicholas Boggs. James is a Man Booker Prize winner. Boggs is a James Baldwin scholar, and the screenplay will be based on his biography, Baldwin: A Love Story.
Walker made the announcement in conversation with Powell Jobs. She is the founder and president of Emerson Collective. That organisation is the majority owner of Anonymous Content.
Walker took over as chief executive of Anonymous Content in early 2026. He was formerly president of the Ford Foundation, where he led its $17 billion endowment.
The Baldwin project fits a wider change in how Anonymous Content plans to work. Walker said the company intends to act as a financier and co-financier of films with backing from Emerson Collective, rather than operating mainly on a fee-for-hire production model, meaning work made for a set fee for someone else, according to Deadline.
There are also changes at board level. Powell Jobs and former HBO chief Richard Plepler are joining a reconstituted Anonymous Content board under chairman Michael Klein.
What makes this stand out is the combination of names around one early-stage project. A prize-winning novelist and a Baldwin scholar are writing. An independent studio with new financial backing is developing. And Higher Ground is attached to produce.
