We produced a feature documentary about one of the most important cancer researchers of his generation. The hardest part wasn't the science. It was the story.
José Baselga was a pioneer of precision oncology. He conducted the first clinical trial of trastuzumab, the targeted antibody that became Herceptin, a drug that has since been used to treat more than 2.3 million breast cancer patients worldwide. He led Memorial Sloan Kettering's research oncology. He led research and development at AstraZeneca, where he championed the kind of bold, cross-functional science that attracted exceptional talent from academia. And in March 2021, after a very short illness, he died at age 61 of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a debilitating and rare neurological condition.
AstraZeneca wanted to honor José's legacy with a feature film. Not because it was a corporate obligation, but because José and his work meant a great deal to researchers, colleagues, and leadership across the company. In his short tenure, he had already attracted exceptional talent to the organization, drawing researchers from academia who might never have considered the move otherwise. The company wanted to do right by the person, not just the politics.
But this wasn't a highlight reel. The story had to hold a growing body of trust, at both José's objectives, a global pandemic, and a controversy that had made the front page of the New York Times years before the project even began.
The movie: film presented by AstraZeneca, one that would screen publicly, travel to festivals, and carry the company's name. I understood the reputational stakes for everyone involved: the family, the institution, the scientific community. A movie like this only works if you can tell even people's most complex chapters, including the uncomfortable ones, and find a way through that's honest enough to hold up on screen.
I led the project as executive producer and co-writer, working with director Chris Valentino to shape a feature-length documentary built through the voices of José's family, his colleagues, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist named Charles Piller. The production spanned two continents. Given the realities of the pandemic, we worked with partners and institutions across all three locations to source archival footage, capture new material where we could, and conduct interviews virtually with colleagues and luminaries who had known José across decades of his career.
The result premiered at AstraZeneca's headquarters and José Baselga Building, screened at multiple film festivals, and was promoted through a branded content partnership with The Atlantic, where the team developed a dedicated microsite to tell José's story for a wider audience.
“Working with Jonathan was one of those rare experiences where you feel both supported and challenged in the right ways. He cares about the details, but more importantly, he cares about the people and the story. From day one, he was fully involved in making sure the emotional core never got lost.”
— Chris Valentino, Director
That's the work. Not the messaging, but the emotional architecture underneath it. Who is the audience? What do they need to understand? How do we build backward from there?
Hear more about how the story developed, how we worked across families, institutions, and production teams to arrive at the feature-length film.