Dr. Ibram X. Kendi Inks Deal with Boat Rocker Studios

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of the best-selling book How to Be an Antiracist, has signed a multi-genre development agreement with Boat Rocker Studios.

The deal will help launch the leading antiracist scholar’s production outfit, Maroon Visions, with Boat Rocker Studios backing and developing projects with the company’s scripted, unscripted and kids’ and family divisions. Boat Rocker Studios will hire a new creative executive to oversee Maroon Visions’ creative affairs alongside Kendi.

Maroon Visions, named for the formerly enslaved people of African descent who formed islands of free communities in the Americas, will build on Kendi’s written work and his film and television projects with the aim of producing content that supports the national and global community in addressing racism, inequality and social injustice.

“Dr. Kendi is an exceptional writer and visionary thinker, and we couldn’t be more excited to work with him on creating thoughtful, representative projects that inform, entertain and inspire audiences worldwide,” said Katie O’Connell Marsh, vice-chair of Boat Rocker Studios. “The partnership between Boat Rocker and Dr. Kendi’s Maroon Visions was born out of a mutual desire to create content across genres that’s culturally relevant and engaging. We can’t wait to see where it takes us.”

“Boat Rocker has a proven track record of creating high-quality, ambitious, groundbreaking and compelling content for people across genres, ages and nations,” Kendi said. “I’m thrilled to work with Boat Rocker to build Maroon Visions where we plan to courageously create outside of the confining narratives and modes of our day. We plan to unleash the imagination of creators with scripted and unscripted stories from the past and present that inspire humans to envision and shape just and equitable societies for all people.”

Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. His books Stamped from the Beginning; Antiracist Baby; and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You are currently being adapted by Netflix.