Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have taken the first steps toward their post-presidential careers, inking a multi-year partnership deal with internet streaming service, Netflix, for a number of upcoming projects.
Netflix announced the partnership on Twitter Monday morning. The deal reportedly includes films, documentaries, and both scripted and reality television programming.
President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have entered into a multi-year agreement to produce films and series for Netflix, potentially including scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries, and features.
— Netflix US (@netflix) May 21, 2018
Neither Netflix nor the Obama camp was willing to give further details, but a New York Times article from March, when the two parties were reportedly first discussing the partnership, seems to give at least an outline of what Netflix and the Obamas have planned.
“President and Mrs. Obama have always believed in the power of storytelling to inspire,” an Obama adviser told the paper, according to The Hill. “Throughout their lives, they have lifted up stories of people whose efforts to make a difference are quietly changing the world for the better. As they consider their future personal plans, they continue to explore new ways to help others tell and share their stories.”
An Obama spokesperson also told the NYT that Obama himself planned to remain “engaged” with young people, though he wasn’t interested in pursuing his own media career — so maybe we’ll luck out and the “unscripted” programming won’t be a multi-season reality show that documents the Obama’s post-presidential quest to “save the world” one vegetable and one anti-Trump protester at a time.
Obama has, however, always wanted to be a Hollywood power player, and this is his shot. Netflix has 125 million subscribers, and some of those are bound to be such die-hard Obama fans they’d watch anything he’d produce. But Netflix is taking a risk; the Obamas have inked solid book deals and lots of Hollywood friends, but aren’t experienced content producers.
The corresponding licensed merchandise will be super convenient for virtue-signaling leftists, however.