In May 2018, the Obamas, former United States PresidentBarack Obamaand former First LadyMichelle Obama, launched their film and television production company, Higher Ground Productions, through a multi-year deal with streaming service Netflix, which has so far distributed all the company’s projects, beginning with the 2019 documentary filmAmerican Factory. While the Obamas started the production company for the express purpose of increasing exposure to diverse voices within the entertainment industry, the company was also born out of their love of quality storytelling, which the Obamas believe has the power to compel audiences to gain a better understanding of other people’s lives.
However, while the company was initially launched for the purpose of producing educational and uplifting content for film and television, the company has gradually branched out to various other genres over the past five years. Indeed, the company’s most recent release, the apocalyptic psychological thriller filmLeave the World Behind, was adapted from the acclaimed 2020 disaster novel of the same name, which Barack Obama was drawn to precisely because of the story’s bleak, uncompromising perspective.
The Obamas Brought a Unique Worldview to their Production Company
Leave the World Behind
Since Barack and Michelle Obamalaunched their production company, Higher Ground Productions, the Obamas have been credited as executive producers on all the company’s film and television projects except for the 2020 documentary filmBecoming, a documentary based on Michelle Obama’s memoir of the same name, for which the Obamas are credited as producers. Upon launching the production company in 2018, the Obamas turned over the daily running of the company to several experienced Hollywood veterans, while the Obamas have maintained a supervisory role with the company, for which the Obamas provide story notes for filmed projects and recommend projects, especially books, for acquisition and development.
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Moreover, while the virtually unmatched access that the Obamas enjoy in Hollywood has given them entry into seemingly all corridors of the entertainment industry, the Obamas also bring a unique perspective to their company’s productions from having lived in the White House for approximately eight years, over two presidential terms. This unique worldview was especially applicable to the company’s most recent release, the apocalyptic thriller filmLeave the World Behind, which tells the story of how a small group of disparate people responds to a cataclysmic event that results in the demise of technology.
In addition to recommending the 2020 novel on which the film is based for acquisition and development, Barack Obama advised the film’s cast, including Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali, and director, Sam Esmail, about what the government’s response to such a crisis would be. In aninterview with MovieWeb, about the former President’s contribution to the film, Esmail said:
“Because President Obama is such a movie lover, he really focused his notes on trying to portray what was in the book in an interesting way. The book was on his reading list, it’sone of his favorites, and he really wanted to do justice by the book and this theme about mistrust and this being a cautionary tale about what could happen if we don’t have that community or bond that holds us together. He gave us notes with regard to character, empathy, and also the disaster elements.”
The Obamas' Introduction to Hollywood
Barack and Michelle Obama have had a close relationship with Hollywood since the former President first campaigned for the presidency in 2007 and 2008, when the Obamas established close relationships with various members of Hollywood’s elite class,including Tom Hanksand Steven Spielberg. These connections inspired the Obamas to want to collaborate with their Hollywood friends on a creative level. Despite their rampant popularity in Hollywood, Higher Ground Productions, which has so far produced four feature films, hasn’t become a vanity company. Except for the company’s most recent release, the star-driven thriller filmLeave the World Behind, most of the company’s projects have been geared toward presenting compelling stories from fresh perspectives.
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Indeed, the company’s first release, the 2019 documentary filmAmerican Factorytells the story of a Chinese billionaire who decides to open a post-industrial Ohio factory in the void of an abandoned General Motors plant with the intention of hiring 2,000 Americans and integrating them with Chinese workers. However, an early period of optimism is overwhelmed by cultural conflicts and mistrust, as high-tech China and working-class America ultimately prove to be incompatible.American Factorybrought the company its first Academy Award nomination and victory in the Best Documentary Feature. The company received its second Oscar nomination for the 2020 documentary filmCrip Camp:A Disability Revolution.
The Obamas Are Reaching Higher
While Barack and Michelle Obama have numerous film and television projects in various stages of development through their production company, the 2023 release of the feature filmsLeave the World BehindandRustinclearly indicates that the company is poised to greatly expand its footprint in film and television production across various genres. Higher Ground Productions has acquired the rights to the best-selling crime novelAll the Sinners Bleed, which the company will produce, as a film adaptation, alongside Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. Additionally, Higher Ground is also in development for a biographical film about abolitionist and social reformer Frederick Douglass with Regina Hall attached to direct the project.
The company is also in pre-production ofExit West, a fantasy film based on the acclaimed 2017 novel of the same name, which Barack Obama described as being one of the best books that he read in 2017. Set amid an epic global migration caused by a supernatural phenomenon,Exit Westis a love story that follows two people who abandon their war-torn homeland to find a better life together.Watch the Obamas' productions on Netflix.
