Ibram X. Kendi is developing a documentary based on his bestselling book “How to Raise an Antiracist.”
The project is one of seven book-to-screen adaptations in the works at his production company Maroon Visions, which is overseen by head of development and production Michael Lebowitz (“Unsolved Mysteries,” “I Am Not Okay with This”). The company previously produced Netflix’s “Stamped From the Beginning,” based on Kendi’s book of the same name, and ESPN’s “Skin in the Game.” Kendi and Lebovitz serve as executive producers on each of the adaptations.
“How to Raise an Antiracist” is a follow-up to Kendi’s 2019 book “How to Be an Antiracist.” Published in 2023 via Penguin Random House, the book “guides parents, caregivers and teachers on how to protect children from harmfully racist messages while raising them to come of age and join the efforts to create equity and justice for all.”
Maroon Visions is also developing a scripted series based on “Black Against Empire” by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin Jr. From the University of California Press, “Black Against Empire” is described as “an authoritative history of the Black Panther Party” that “shows how these young revolutionaries organized, empowered and served their communities in the face of the government’s violent war against them.” The book has been endorsed by Black Panther Party chairman Bobby Seale, and was won by Maroon Visions in a competitive auction. The series hails from Boat Rocker, where Maroon Visions is under a first-look deal.
“Token” by Beverly Kendall (2023) is in development as a TV series helmed by Jacque Edmonds Cofer (“The Wonder Years” reboot, “Moesha”). The Harper Collins novel follows “Kennedy Mitchell and her best friend Aurora who take a leap of faith to start a boutique PR agency. Kennedy specializes in cleaning up scandals for Fortune 500 companies, while rekindling her passion for an old flame and struggling to accept her hard-earned success and new found identity.” Boat Rocker produces.
George Schuyler’s 1931 satirical novel “Black No More” is also being developed into a series at Boat Rocker. In the book, a Black scientist invents a device that can turn Black people white.
“The Riders Come Out at Night” by Darwin Bond Graham and Ali Winston will get a scripted series from Boat Rocker based on the authors’ “meticulously researched and enraging account of the systematic corruption and brutality within the Oakland Police Department, and the more than two-decades-long saga of attempted reforms and explosive scandals.” The book was published by Simon & Schuster and won by Maroon Visions in a competitive auction. Graham and Winston are repped by Lupo Creative Group and Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency.
“Torn Apart,” in which Dorothy Roberts “exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system and calls for radical change,” is in development as a documentary. The book was published by Hachette.
Kris Manjapra’s “Black Ghost of Empire” is in development as a documentary that “tracks when enslavers received reparations, transforming the debate around reparations from ‘Should the descendants of the enslaved receive reparations?’ to ‘Should the descendants of the enslaved receive reparations too?’” The book was published by Simon & Schuster.
Kendi and Maroon Visions are both repped by WME.
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