The Obama’s first project, American Factory, will make it’s debut on August 21, under their multi-year production deal with Netflix.
What We Know:
- American Factory, which is presented by the Obama’s Higher Ground Productions and Participant Media, “focuses on post-industrial Ohio, where a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring 2,000 blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America,” according to Deadline.
- The original documentary won the Directing Award: U.S. Documentary at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It was directed by Academy Award nominees Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert and produced by Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, Jeff Reichert and Julie Parker Benello.
- Netflix acquired the documentary from Bognar and Reichert, the co-directors, for $3 Million, according to Hollywood Reporter.
- The former POTUS and First Lady launched their production company last spring. “We created Higher Ground to harness the power of storytelling. That’s why we couldn’t be more excited about these projects,” Barack Obama said in a statement. “Touching on issues of race and class, democracy and civil rights, and much more, we believe each of these productions won’t just entertain but will educate, connect, and inspire us all.”
- The Obama’s will release a slate of scripted and unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries and features under their Netflix deal.
Their production company will start working with Spotify to produce podcasts. The two will sometimes be heard on the new podcasts — but their primary role will be in the development and production phases.
