Cheo Hodari Coker is writing and producing the feature adaptation of Dwayne Alexander Smith novel ‘Forty Acres’ for Netflix.
A young black attorney confronts issues of race and power as he uncovers a shocking conspiracy in the most page-turning and provocative thriller since The Firm.
Martin Grey, a smart, talented black lawyer working out of a storefront in Queens, becomes friendly with a group of some of the most powerful, wealthy, and esteemed black men in America. He’s dazzled by what they’ve accomplished, and they seem to think he has the potential to be as successful as they are. They invite him for a weekend away from it all—no wives, no cell phones, no talk of business. But far from home and cut off from everyone he loves, he discovers a disturbing secret that challenges some of his deepest convictions…
Martin finds out that his glittering new friends are part of a secret society dedicated to the preservation of the institution of slavery—but this time around, the black men are called “Master.” Joining them seems to guarantee a future without limits; rebuking them almost certainly guarantees his death. Trapped inside a picture-perfect, make-believe world that is home to a frightening reality, Martin must find a way out that will allow him to stay alive without becoming the very thing he hates.
A novel of rage and compassion, good and evil, trust and betrayal, Forty Acres is the thought-provoking story of one man’s desperate attempt to escape the clutches of a terrifying new moral order.
Coker will produce alongside James Lassiter, Jay-Z, Kapital Entertainment’s Aaron Kaplan, Niles Kirchner and Bill Strauss. Executive producers on Forty Acres are Dana Honor for Kapital, Smith and Mike Epps.
This marks the first movie project for Kapital whose principal Kaplan identified the idea as better suited as a feature when it was pitched to him for TV. Forty Acres reunites Kaplan with Jay-Z and Lassiter, his partners on the upcoming high-profile ABC limited series Women of the Movement.
Jay-Z and Lassiter recently produced the all-Black western movie The Harder They Fall for the streamer.
The project is still in early development, we’ll update you as we learn more.