We’re Making Troubled: The Movie!
Bringing Rob Henderson’s bestselling memoir to screens big and small
Dear Readers,
Courtney and I have a big announcement: We’re teaming up with
to turn his touching and powerful memoir into a movie!That’s right, Courtney and I just optioned the rights to Rob’s bestselling book Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class. Unlike our most recent film, The Coddling of the American Mind, Troubled will be a narrative film (that is, with actors) not a documentary.
In some ways, Rob reminds me of Susette Kelo, the real-life woman at the center of our 2018 narrative Little Pink House starring two-time Oscar nominee Catherine Keener and Emmy nominee Jeanne Tripplehorn. Like Susette, Rob was forced to deal with hardship and bad luck. And like Susette, Rob’s a fighter who’s not afraid to stand up to powerful interests. And like Susette, Rob’s story deserves to be heard by a huge audience.
After all, his personal life illuminates the struggles of so many Americans, especially the littlest Americans.
If you’re fed up with groupthink in entertainment, media, and more, please consider subscribing to Shiny Herd. Free subscriptions are still the only kind I offer. I’m grateful to all of you who pledged support, and I plan to accept your generosity at some point.
In modern life, “Doing it for the children” is often seen as a cliché.
Think of The Simpsons character who shrieks, “Won’t somebody please think of the children!” It’s true that politicians, activists, and others often invoke the children, but that obscures an important truth—the rules of the game are typically written for adults.
In the preface, Rob quotes Yale sociologist and physician Nicholas Christakis who says, “Almost every innovation in child welfare in the United States, including orphanages and subsidized childcare, has been driven primarily by adult concerns.”
The adults in Rob’s life followed that approach—they put their needs first.
It’s even reflected in his name: Robert Kim Henderson.
Each name was taken from a different adult who abandoned him. “Robert” was his biological father. “Kim” is his birth mother’s family name, and “Henderson” comes from his former adoptive father.
Rob’s first memory is a cop pulling him away from his drug-addicted mom. He grew up in the foster care system, which placed him with nine families before he turned eight. He lived in chaos, surrounded by drugs, alcohol, violence, and adults behaving badly. He notes that, in his hometown, there were almost no positive male role models.
Rob seemed destined to end up in prison or worse. But instead he enlisted in the Air Force at age 17 (he took the entrance exam while hung over). Then he graduated from Yale. Then he earned a PhD from Cambridge.
In one sense, Rob is a massive outlier.
Sixty percent of boys in foster care end up behind bars, and only 3 percent graduate from college. But in another sense, Rob’s experience, though more extreme than most, represents countless kids who find themselves stuck with chaotic home lives.
Troubled is something like the inverse of The Coddling of the American Mind movie. Whereas the issues explored in The Coddling mostly affect wealthier populations, the issues explored in Troubled mostly affect poorer communities. In the U.S. today, 85 percent of children born to upper-class families are raised by both of their birth parents. But only 30 percent of children from working-class families are raised by both of their birth parents.
But, like The Coddling, Troubled does include an important higher ed element. While at Yale, Rob saw firsthand how disconnected our nation’s elites are from the poor. Of course, that doesn’t prevent elites from thinking that they know best. Consider “luxury beliefs,” a term coined by Rob.
Luxury beliefs are ideas and opinions that serve as status symbols for the upper class. These beliefs often end up hurting the poor, but elites remain largely shielded from their harmful unintended consequences. Think of “defund the police” or permissive sexual norms.
And while the dividing line often reveals itself in economic terms, Rob argues that the problem of chaotic households should not be framed in primarily economic terms. The problem won’t be solved with technocratic tweaks to the tax code or by funneling more poor kids to college.
Rob points to a study that found that children from poorer families were no more likely to commit crimes or engage in risky behavior compared to children from richer families. What really mattered was stability. Compared to children raised in stable environments, children raised in unstable environments were far more likely to commit crimes or engage in risky behavior later in life.
We’re consumed with making families richer when we should be consumed with making them more stable.
Here’s how Rob frames the issue:
I’ve come to believe that upward social mobility shouldn’t be our priority as a society. Rather, upward mobility should be the side effect of far more important things: family, stability, and emotional security for children. Even if upward mobility were the primary goal, a safe and secure family would help achieve it more than anything else. Conventional badges of success do not repair the effects of a volatile upbringing.
The filmmaking journey is a long one filled with many twists and turns. Our next step is fundraising.
And if you’d be interested in supporting the film financially, please message me.
Courtney and I are honored to be able to bring Rob’s story to an even wider audience. And we’ve so enjoyed getting to know Rob. While working on any big project, it really helps to like your colleagues!
Courtney, Rob, and I are eager to begin this journey, and we hope you’ll join us.
Now who do you think should play Rob in the movie!
All the best,
Ted
If you’re fed up with groupthink in entertainment, media, and more, please consider subscribing to Shiny Herd.
Ted Balaker is a filmmaker, and former network newser and think tanker. His written work has appeared in many publications including The New York Times, USA Today, Reason, and The Washington Post.
His recent film work includes Little Pink House starring Catherine Keener and Jeanne Tripplehorn, Can We Take a Joke? featuring Gilbert Gottfried and Penn Jillette, and the new feature documentary based on the bestselling book, The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Stream the very first “Substack Presents” feature documentary here.
Ted and his wife and producing partner Courtney Moorehead Balaker are now making a narrative feature film based on Rob Henderson’s bestselling book Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class.
Congrats on this tremendous new adventure!
Amazing!! I want to go to the premiere!🥳