Exclusive: Former NBA player and producer Jarnell Stokes has signed with Zero Gravity Management, which will rep the 2-time Gold Medalist for both on-camera opportunities and production deals.
Stokes has a slate of original projects in development—all related to his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee—his latest being the docuseries, Memphis and the Mountaintop, which showcases the intersection of iconic civil rights leaders, sports and music during the city’s struggle in the late ’60s as the epicenter of the social justice movement. Stokes is partnering on the project with 10-time Emmy-winning producer-director Daniel H. Forer, music and film producer Vassal Benford, and his brother, Isaiah Stokes, a former Memphis Tigers basketball star.
Also in the works from Stokes is the one-hour political drama series, Where It Counts, which follows a DC councilwoman and BLM leader on opposite sides of social justice as they navigate the minefield of Washington politics...
Stokes has a slate of original projects in development—all related to his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee—his latest being the docuseries, Memphis and the Mountaintop, which showcases the intersection of iconic civil rights leaders, sports and music during the city’s struggle in the late ’60s as the epicenter of the social justice movement. Stokes is partnering on the project with 10-time Emmy-winning producer-director Daniel H. Forer, music and film producer Vassal Benford, and his brother, Isaiah Stokes, a former Memphis Tigers basketball star.
Also in the works from Stokes is the one-hour political drama series, Where It Counts, which follows a DC councilwoman and BLM leader on opposite sides of social justice as they navigate the minefield of Washington politics...
- 4/18/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Pro basketball player Jarnell Stokes is partnering with veteran animation exec and producer Jay Fukuto to co-write and produce Wings to Fly, an animated feature based on his sports-themed children’s book of the same name.
The book published by Creation Nation Animation in April of 2020 is a redemption tale about a brilliant, but self-centered rising basketball star who is prematurely killed, only to discover his higher spiritual purpose helping a young girl. At a crossroad between a virtuous life and a path to crime, Louisa meets her guardian angel, Jerrold, who teaches her the game of life through basketball, learning that success comes with perseverance.
The book co-written by Stokes and Howard Flamm and illustrated by Eunsoo Jeong was also recently picked up for publication by Mascot Books. Dea Shandera-Hunter will exec produce, with pro-athlete career company Unique Sports Management on board...
The book published by Creation Nation Animation in April of 2020 is a redemption tale about a brilliant, but self-centered rising basketball star who is prematurely killed, only to discover his higher spiritual purpose helping a young girl. At a crossroad between a virtuous life and a path to crime, Louisa meets her guardian angel, Jerrold, who teaches her the game of life through basketball, learning that success comes with perseverance.
The book co-written by Stokes and Howard Flamm and illustrated by Eunsoo Jeong was also recently picked up for publication by Mascot Books. Dea Shandera-Hunter will exec produce, with pro-athlete career company Unique Sports Management on board...
- 2/17/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Professional basketball player and producer Jarnell Stokes has signed with Babette Perry at Innovative Artists, who will rep him for both on-camera and production deals.
Stokes is currently developing two drama series examining the ruthless intersection of sports, music and street culture in his hometown of Memphis.
The first, Break the Cycle, follows the struggles of twin 16-year-old orphan brothers as they each seek a piece of the American dream. Stokes is co-creating the series with writer-producer Taylor Materne (Hustle), with Chris Pavoni (Supergirl) on board to produce alongside Walk Like A Duck Entertainment. The second series, collegiate sports drama Rocky Top College, centers on an institution of the same name that harbors a dark secret. When the school’s newest recruit joins the team, full of promise and hope for a better life, they set him up on a regimen to dominate on the court. But as waves of anxiety and hallucinations surface,...
Stokes is currently developing two drama series examining the ruthless intersection of sports, music and street culture in his hometown of Memphis.
The first, Break the Cycle, follows the struggles of twin 16-year-old orphan brothers as they each seek a piece of the American dream. Stokes is co-creating the series with writer-producer Taylor Materne (Hustle), with Chris Pavoni (Supergirl) on board to produce alongside Walk Like A Duck Entertainment. The second series, collegiate sports drama Rocky Top College, centers on an institution of the same name that harbors a dark secret. When the school’s newest recruit joins the team, full of promise and hope for a better life, they set him up on a regimen to dominate on the court. But as waves of anxiety and hallucinations surface,...
- 2/16/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Professional basketball player Jarnell Stokes has signed on to exec produce three indie features: Friedrich Moser’s doc How to Build a Truth Engine, writer-director Chadd Harbold’s thriller Private Property, and writer-director Matthew Greene-DeLange’s family film, Skelly.
How to Build a Truth Engine follows award-winning journalists in the fight against fake news, conspiracy theories and disinformation. Stokes is exec producing the film, which is currently in production, alongside Smokehouse Pictures’ George Clooney and Grant Heslov.
Private Property is a remake of the 1960 noir film of the same starring Ashley Benson, Shiloh Fernandez, Logan Miller, Frank Whaley and Jay Pharoah, which Redwire Pictures is producing. The project is currently in post-production with plans for a 2022 release.
Also in post is Skelly, which centers on a boy struggling to come to terms with death following the loss of his grandfather. Brian Cox, Torrey DeVitto, John Palladino and Judah Abner Paul star in the film,...
How to Build a Truth Engine follows award-winning journalists in the fight against fake news, conspiracy theories and disinformation. Stokes is exec producing the film, which is currently in production, alongside Smokehouse Pictures’ George Clooney and Grant Heslov.
Private Property is a remake of the 1960 noir film of the same starring Ashley Benson, Shiloh Fernandez, Logan Miller, Frank Whaley and Jay Pharoah, which Redwire Pictures is producing. The project is currently in post-production with plans for a 2022 release.
Also in post is Skelly, which centers on a boy struggling to come to terms with death following the loss of his grandfather. Brian Cox, Torrey DeVitto, John Palladino and Judah Abner Paul star in the film,...
- 11/22/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Four members of B.B. King’s band will portray themselves in The Thrill Is Gone, an upcoming film that stars The Wire’s Wendell Pierce as the legendary bluesman.
The Thrill Is Gone — which King’s estate has specified is not an authorized biopic — tells the story of King’s friendship with drummer Michael Zanetis, also a producer on the film, from 1980 to 1990.
Four of King’s band members from that era — Walter Riley King, James “Boogaloo” Bolden, Michael Doster, and Tony Coleman — will co-star as themselves alongside Pierce’s King in the “docudrama,...
The Thrill Is Gone — which King’s estate has specified is not an authorized biopic — tells the story of King’s friendship with drummer Michael Zanetis, also a producer on the film, from 1980 to 1990.
Four of King’s band members from that era — Walter Riley King, James “Boogaloo” Bolden, Michael Doster, and Tony Coleman — will co-star as themselves alongside Pierce’s King in the “docudrama,...
- 10/29/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Four former members of B.B. King’s band — Walter Riley King, James “Boogaloo” Bolden, Michael Doster and Tony Coleman — will portray themselves in the upcoming drama “The Thrill Is On.”
Producer Michael Zanetis told Variety, “We’re honored to have these extraordinary musicians join us in our tribute to Mr. King. They traveled the world with him for decades and continue to keep his legacy alive.”
“The Thrill Is On” is a drama about King’s friendship with drummer Zanetis starring Wendell Pierce as King. The movie tells “the inspiring true story of how a chance meeting between Zanetis, a young musician, and B.B. King in 1980 led to King being the first blues artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990,” according to a statement from production.
Variety reported on Oct. 25 that an official biopic of iconic blues musician King is going into pre-production in 2021, according to Vassal Benford,...
Producer Michael Zanetis told Variety, “We’re honored to have these extraordinary musicians join us in our tribute to Mr. King. They traveled the world with him for decades and continue to keep his legacy alive.”
“The Thrill Is On” is a drama about King’s friendship with drummer Zanetis starring Wendell Pierce as King. The movie tells “the inspiring true story of how a chance meeting between Zanetis, a young musician, and B.B. King in 1980 led to King being the first blues artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990,” according to a statement from production.
Variety reported on Oct. 25 that an official biopic of iconic blues musician King is going into pre-production in 2021, according to Vassal Benford,...
- 10/29/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
The late, legendary blues guitarist B.B. King was so influential, it’s going to take two biopics to tell the story. King’s estate is preparing a project separate from The Thrill Is On, which is set to star Wendell Pierce, according to Variety.
“We want to be crystal clear that the film announced by Pierce is not a biopic, as there are several major players involved in the new B.B. King biopic and the estate does not want there to be any confusion as to the nature of each separate project,” Vassal Benford, chairman of King’s estate, told Variety. “One is a docudrama, and the other is the official B.B. King biopic approved by corporate management of the B.B. King estate and trust as a part of B.B. King’s legacy initiative.”
The Thrill Is On will tell the story about King’s friendship with his drummer Michael Zanetis.
“We want to be crystal clear that the film announced by Pierce is not a biopic, as there are several major players involved in the new B.B. King biopic and the estate does not want there to be any confusion as to the nature of each separate project,” Vassal Benford, chairman of King’s estate, told Variety. “One is a docudrama, and the other is the official B.B. King biopic approved by corporate management of the B.B. King estate and trust as a part of B.B. King’s legacy initiative.”
The Thrill Is On will tell the story about King’s friendship with his drummer Michael Zanetis.
- 10/26/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
An official biopic of iconic blues musician B.B. King is going into pre-production in 2021, Vassal Benford, chairman of King’s estate, tells Variety. This is a separate project from “The Thrill Is On,” which is a drama about King’s friendship with drummer Michael Zanetis starring Wendell Pierce as King.
Confusion first arose when “The Wire” and “Selma” actor Pierce announced that he would play King via Twitter on Oct. 19. “We are official. Preparation has begun on a film where I will be honored to play the great B.B. King,” Pierce wrote. This led many to assume he would be playing King in a biopic retelling the late singer-guitarist’s life story.
Pierce expanded on the situation on Oct. 22, writing: “The Estate of B.B. King has requested I clarify the film ‘The Thrill Is On’ is not a biopic in the traditional sense. It is a dramatized version...
Confusion first arose when “The Wire” and “Selma” actor Pierce announced that he would play King via Twitter on Oct. 19. “We are official. Preparation has begun on a film where I will be honored to play the great B.B. King,” Pierce wrote. This led many to assume he would be playing King in a biopic retelling the late singer-guitarist’s life story.
Pierce expanded on the situation on Oct. 22, writing: “The Estate of B.B. King has requested I clarify the film ‘The Thrill Is On’ is not a biopic in the traditional sense. It is a dramatized version...
- 10/25/2020
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
[[tmz:video id="0_p6abb89t"]] O.T. Genasis is gonna love holograms as much as the coco if they keep lining his pockets with the kinda cash he's getting for the easiest nightclub gig ever. We obtained this video of O.T. performing his hit, "Cut It" ... in hologram form. It's a sample of what fans will see next week at Heat Ultra Lounge in the O.C. when holo O.T. headlines for $20,000! It's the sweetest deal possible for the rapper.
- 2/8/2017
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Marvin Gaye's son is ready to go to war again in court ... this time to shut down the release of a biopic about his father, which he calls pure trash. Marvin Gaye III tells TMZ ... no one in his family is backing "Sexual Healing" -- the film music mogul Vassal Benford is producing. Gaye III's got a lot of problems with what he's seen of the film. He says it's untrue, exploitative, with a...
- 9/16/2016
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Focus Features International will sell worldwide rights to the untitled biopic that Julien Temple will direct with Rent and Law & Order‘s Jesse L. Martin starring as the iconic soul singer with the sweet voice and troubled personal life. Script is by Matthew Broughton, and In Bruges‘ Brendan Gleeson will play the role of Freddy Cousaert, who met Marvin Gaye in 1981 in the Belgian fishing village of Ostend when the singer was battling everything from drug problems to the IRS. Cousaert helped the singer regain his mojo, leading to a comeback that included hits like Sexual Healing. Vicky Krieps (Hanna) also stars and Dwight Henry (the bakery owner who played Hushpuppy’s father in Beasts Of The Southern Wild) will play Gaye’s father, who silenced his son with a gunshot. Related: Jesse L. Martin To Play Marvin Gaye, Replaces Lenny Kravitz Frederick Bestall of Auric Entertainment Pty. Ltd. and...
- 4/26/2013
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
Sexual Healing is becoming a bit of a mini-Law & Order reunion. S. Epatha Merkerson, who played Lt. Anita van Buren on the series for 19 years, is in negotiations to play Marvin’s Gaye’s mother Alberta in the music biopic. Currently seen in a recurring role on NBC’s Deception, Merkerson would join fellow Law & Order actor Jesse L Martin in the Julien Temple-directed film. Martin signed on recently to play the Motown legend after initial lead Lenny Kravitz dropped out following legal concerns by Gaye’s heirs. Those concerns have now been put to rest and the movie is moving ahead, with Brendan Gleeson co-starring as British music promoter Freddy Cousaert. Vassal Benford and Fred Bestall are producing. Sexual Healing focuses on the time Gaye spent in Europe in the early 1980s, when the soul singer attempted to get his addictions under control and career back on track with the help of Cousaert.
- 3/11/2013
- by DOMINIC PATTEN
- Deadline TV
Sexual Healing has S. Epatha Merkerson in negotiations to play Marvin Gaye's mother in the Julien Temple-directed biopic. Deadline reports that the actress who's currently in NBC's Deception series, joins Jesse L. Martin who will play Motown legend Gaye, having replaced Lenny Kravitz. Brendan Gleeson co-stars in Sexual Healing as music promoter Freddy Cousaert in the film produced by Fred Bestall and Vassal Benford. Gaye was shot dead by his father back on April 1st, 1984. Law & Order veteran Merkerson, who was seen in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln...
- 3/11/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Sexual Healing has S. Epatha Merkerson in negotiations to play Marvin Gaye's mother in the Julien Temple-directed biopic. Deadline reports that the actress who's currently in NBC's Deception series, joins Jesse L. Martin who will play Motown legend Gaye, having replaced Lenny Kravitz. Brendan Gleeson co-stars in Sexual Healing as music promoter Freddy Cousaert in the film produced by Fred Bestall and Vassal Benford. Gaye was shot dead by his father back on April 1st, 1984. Law & Order veteran Merkerson, who was seen in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln...
- 3/11/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
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