Sports Illustrated, HBO® AND Endgame Entertainment TEAM UP TO
produce GROUNDBREAKING MULTIPART DOCUMENTARY SERIES:
Sport In America: Our Defining Stories
Set to debut on HBO in 2013
–Interactive Fan Website Experience Launches Today—
New York, NY (November 15, 2011) – HBO, Sports Illustrated and Endgame Entertainment, in association with Playground, announced today that they have formed a groundbreaking partnership to present Sport in America: Our Defining Stories, a multipart documentary series scheduled to air on HBO in 2013. The project aligns two of Time Warner Inc.’s leading sports franchises and two internationally renowned production companies for a sweeping cross-platform examination of how the universal thread of sport has shaped America’s character.
“This is one of the most ambitious sports projects that HBO has launched and we are delighted to collaborate with such prestigious partners, who share our passion for storytelling,” said Rick Bernstein, Executive Producer, HBO Sports.
Endgame Entertainment’s James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo will Direct and Executive Produce the television series with Executive Producers Colin Callender of Playground, and Terry McDonell, Time Inc. Sports Group Editor. The landmark project will explore our national character and shared history through the prism of sport and ask why it is such an important part of the American way of life. The TV series will be complemented by Sports Illustrated editorial packages and social media integration on HBO and SI platforms.
“Sport in America reflects both the values and ambition of Sports Illustrated,” said McDonell. “We are proud to be working on a project that reflects sport and the human spirit, a connection that speaks directly to who we are.”
As part of the initiative, the producers will collect an array of personal narratives from those who have been a part of sports’ most transcendent events to create a tapestry of stories reflecting our culture. It will examine what these events meant to us, why they moved us, why they inspired us and what they tell us about who we are.
Chief among those stories will be fans’ perspective; beginning today (Nov. 15), a promotional campaign across Sports Illustrated and HBO platforms and other marketing initiatives will direct fans to www.sportinamerica.com where they can record and submit videotaped responses of their favorite and most significant sports memories. A select group of fans will be chosen from those submissions to be included in the documentary series.
“Sport transcends American society and speaks as a unifying language. It’s one of the only aspects of modern life that crosses lines of gender, race and privilege and as such gives us a real window into who we are,” stated Stern. “When we decided to move forward with this project we wanted to assemble a team and a venue to take it to the highest level. In partnering with Colin Callender, HBO and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED we’ve done exactly that.”
About HBO
Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., providing the two pay television services – HBO® and Cinemax® – to approximately 85 million subscribers worldwide. The services offer the most popular subscription video-on-demand products, HBO On Demand® and Cinemax On Demand® as well as HBO GO® and MAX GO®, HD feeds and multiplex channels. Internationally, HBO branded television networks, along with the subscription video-on-demand products HBO On Demand and HBO GO, bring HBO services to over 60 countries. HBO programming is sold into over 150 countries worldwide. HBO Sports has earned 106 Sports Emmy® Awards and nine George Foster Peabody Awards for production excellence. HBO Sports has won the Sports Emmy for “Outstanding Sports Documentary” each of the past four years.
About SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
For more than 55 years SPORTS ILLUSTRATED has delivered the stories of sport, first through the flagship print magazine, and now through more than two dozen platforms reaching a collective audience of more than 30 million. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is widely seen as leading the industry’s digital transformation which complements the media company’s emerging marketing, retail business and social footprint, which is more than 2.5 million strong. Current SPORTS ILLUSTRATED business units include print, digital, marketing, Sports Illustrated Books, Sports Illustrated International and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Productions. These units are built on the foundation of the franchise’s award-winning writers and photographers who have earned a combined 50 awards for editorial excellence in the past year.
About Endgame Entertainment
Endgame Entertainment, under the leadership of CEO James D. Stern and President Douglas E. Hansen, is a production/financing company based in Los Angeles. The company is currently in production on Rian Johnson’s Looper, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt. Endgame titles also include the Academy Award nominated An Education, The Brothers Bloom, and I’m Not There. Since its inception in 2003, Endgame has co-financed several dozen feature films including Hotel Rwanda, Lord of War, Proof, White Noise, Stay Alive, and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.
Veteran documentary filmmakers Stern and Del Deo previously co-directed and produced the acclaimed documentary Every Little Step, about the revival of the Broadway smash hit A Chorus Line, which was released by Sony Pictures Classics and shortlisted for an Academy Award. They also co-directed and produced The Year of the Yao (Newline), a documentary about Yao Ming’s first year in the NBA and …So Goes the Nation (IFC), which examined the American electoral system and the 2004 Presidential campaign. Stern also directed and produced the IMAX hit Michael Jordan to the Max.
About Playground
Playground is a film, television and theater production company founded in 2010 by award-winning producer and executive Colin Callender who enjoyed a 20-plus-year career at HBO Films, most recently as President of the division, where he was responsible for movies and mini-series produced by the country’s leading pay television service.
Under Callender’s leadership HBO Films garnered numerous awards including 104 Emmy® Awards, 29 Golden Globes, 9 Peabody Awards, 12 Humanitas Awards, 3 Oscars, and top awards at the Sundance Film Festival four years in a row as well as the Palme D’Or in Cannes.
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