Luke Cage creator, Cheo Hodari Coker, has just been tapped to write the screen adaptation of the Dwayne Alexander Smith novel Forty Acres.The film is in early development stages with Netflix and includes Jay-Z as a producer for the project with Mike Epps serving as executive producer. Also producing are James Lassiter, Aaron Kaplan for Kapital Entertainment with Niles Kirchner and Bill Strauss. Joining Epps as executive producers are Dana Honor for Kapital, and Smith. The project was originally pitched for TV to Kaplan, however, he felt it more suitable for a feature which will make Forty Acres Kapital’s first feature venture. Kaplan has previously worked with Jay-Z and Lassiter on ABC’s upcoming Women of the Movement. Jay-Z and Lassiter have also worked on Netflix’s all Black Western The Harder They Fall.
Forty Acres is a thriller that follows Martin Grey, a civil rights attorney who must fight for survival when he’s invited to join an elite Black organization with a mind-blowing secret. The novel was originally published in 2014 by Simon and Schuster.
Coker is best known for creating, showrunning and executive producing Netflix and Marvel’s Luke Cage. He also has credits on Creed II, Lowriders and Notorious. His work on TNT’S Southland earned him an NAACP Image Award for Best Writing in a Dramatic Series and has signed an overall television deal with Amazon. Coker is continuing his venture into features by writing the Gucci Mane autobiography based, Diary of a Trap God for Paramount/Imagine and a sequel to the 2005 Paramount film Four Brothers.
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