EXCLUSIVE: Veteran producer Mark Lipsky (Vampire In Brooklyn) is teaming with LA-based production company 20/20 Visions Entertainment Group on action-thriller The Unseen Shield, based on the true story of Abraham Bolden, the first Black White House Secret Service agent, who was appointed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

The film will explore Bolden’s overlooked legacy, including his discovery of an assassination plot against Kennedy in Chicago in October 1963, just one month before the President’s murder in Dallas.

In 1964, Bolden was fired from the Secret Service after he was charged with accepting a bribe in relation to a counterfeiting case he had been investigating. Convicted by a jury, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison. Bolden always alleged that he had been framed by members of the government in order to intimidate and silence him. He was pardoned by President Biden in 2022.

The project is the first in a development slate of movies between Lipsky and Joshua Coates’ 20/20 Visions. Lipsky is a former personal manager of Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall with exec producer credits on hit movies and shows including Coming To America, The Arsenio Hall Show, Another 48 Hours and The Nutty Professor. With Murphy, he produced 1995 comedy-horror Vampire In Brooklyn.

Also aboard to work on The Unseen Shield are writing vet Jonas McCord (Reagan) as script consultant and producing vet Steven Jaffe as technical consultant. Jaffe has worked on multiple features about the JFK assassination and was previously a special assistant to New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison who formally investigated the President’s assassination.

Additional producers on the film include Edgar Rios, Fetteroff Colen, and Michele Manelis. The team is hoping to shoot in summer 2026.

“I’m very much looking forward to being part of 20/20 Visions Entertainment Group and working with filmmaker Joshua Coates, a highly driven and accomplished independent producer and director,” said Lipsky. “Abraham Bolden’s story is one of extraordinary courage. It is the story of a man who fought to protect President John F. Kennedy, and who later paid a devastating price for attempting to reveal the truth. His story needs to be told, and it will shock audiences to their core.”

20/20’s upcoming slate includes movies Divine Direction starring Tamala Jones, Madonna Non Grata with Tamara Taylor, Cycle Of Grace with Danielle LaRoach, and Booo featuring the late John Amos. The company’s films are distributed by One Culture Media Group / Urban Home Entertainment.