Higher Ground, the production company of Barack and Michelle Obama, has signed with mega-talent agency CAA for film and television deals, though the agency won’t represent either of the Obamas as individuals, according to a Deadline report.
The deal means Higher Ground will have access not only to CAA’s deal-making power but also to its stable of celebrities, which includes Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Higher Ground has primarily produced documentaries in partnership with Netflix but is branching out into TV show and movies.
Leaders at CAA have publicly backed Barack Obama and Joe Biden for the White House while also giving their support to the Black Lives Matter movement. CAA co-chair Kevin Huvane is a major Democrat booster, recently giving $25,000 to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) re-election campaign.
But CAA has also come under fire following accusations that the agency sent actresses to meet Harvey Weinstein while knowing about the disgraced producer’s history of sexual assault and misconduct. In response, CAA spearheaded the Time’s Up organization, which was supposed to help defend women from sexual misconduct in the workplace. But Time’s Up leadership collapsed last year during the Andrew Cuomo scandal, when it was revealed a senior Time’s Up official helped the former New York governor fight a sexual harassment accusation.