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Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to director Rob Edwards’ sneaker-themed animated movie Sneaks, voiced by Anthony Mackie, Martin Lawrence, Oscar nominee Laurence Fishburne, Chloe Bailey, and Grammy-winning producer Mustard.

Pic also features Grammy winners Roddy Ricch, Ella Mai and Macy Gray, with five-time nominee Swae Lee, Quavo and NBA star Chris Paul also joining the cast. Paul plays himself, hosting a Met Gala-like event for avid sneakerheads seen in the film.

The family movie follows a pair of one-of-a-kind, collector sneakers, Ty (Anthony Mackie), and Maxine (Chloe Bailey), stolen by ‘the Collector’ (Laurence Fishburne). In their attempt to escape, Ty ends up separated from his sister in the middle of NYC. Alone, and desperate to find her, Ty meets with Jb (Martin Lawrence), a streetwise, scuffed up sneaker with an affinity for anything shiny, learning that your best life begins when you get out of your box.

Exclusive: Sean Menard (299 Queen Street West) has been set to direct the docuseries The Sneaker Boom, on basketball shoe marketing of the ’90s, for Rtg Features, the sister studio to basketball-focused media company Slam. Rtg Features CEO Aron Phillips is among the producers of the project, which Sean Menard Productions is co-producing.

Currently in post-production, the series is set amidst the NBA’s rise in global popularity during the early ’90s, watching as a group of marketing mavericks and advertising execs bet millions on unproven rookies as they enlist their talents for wildly creative television commercials. As the players grow into superstars, basketball sneakers go from being a niche sportswear product to everyday fashion, en route to becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry.

The story of The Sneaker Boom is told through the lens of ’90s NBA legends including Dee Brown, Larry Johnson, Penny Hardaway and Grant Hill — who were respectively sponsored by Reebok,...

Exclusive: Former NFL player Andrew Hawkins and his Parks Tower Studios banner have entered into a co-production agreement with Rtg Features, the sister studio to basketball-focused media company Slam, to develop and produce a slate of cross-platform scripted and unscripted projects that spotlight sports and culture.

Hawkins comes to the deal after working with Rtg’s CEO Aron Phillips at Uninterrupted, the L.A.-based athlete empowerment brand co-founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.

As part of the deal, Rtg will come aboard to produce Hawk, a biopic first announced a few years ago that’s based on the true story of Hawkins’ journey to the NFL. Directing the pic is Qasim Basir, the filmmaker with whom Hawkins most recently collaborated as an EP on his critically acclaimed Sundance 2023 drama, To Live and Die and Live.

The film to be produced by Andre Gaines (The One and Only Dick Gregory...

DraftKings is officially entering the free, ad-supported TV (Fast) game with the launch of the DraftKings Network on Samsung TV Plus. Samsung’s platform will be the first to feature the new sports and gambling channel, which will air 24/7 content featuring DraftKings’ army of emerging personalities.

Slowly but surely, DraftKings has amassed some reputable sports personalities to supplement its daily fantasy sports and sportsbooks. Among the familiar faces you’ll see populate the DraftKings Network include those in the “Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz” universe, Mike Golic Sr. and Jr., Jared Carrabis, Ross Tucker, and more.

“In bringing together some of the most authentic sports and entertainment voices under one umbrella, DraftKings Network is the destination for ‘In on the Action’ sports fans and content they love,” DraftKings VP Stacie McCollum said. “We look forward to reaching fans with our deep roster of independent, credible, and relatable voices that resonate...

At its annual draft, the NFL is pitting creator groups against one another. Six members of Amp will take on the stars of RDCWorld in a flag football game that will be held in Kansas City on April 29.

The game will take place on the third day of the NFL Draft, which is being held in Kansas City for the first time. Amp’s squad will include leading Twitch star Kai Cenat, who has won fans (including Nicki Minaj) with his record-breaking streams. He will be joined by teammates Duke Dennis, Agent 00, ImDavisss, Fanum, and Chrisnxtdoor. On the RDCWorld side, Co-Founder Mark Phillips will team up with Desmond Johnson, Ben Skinner, Dylan Patel, John Newton, and Ipi.

In a year defined by influencer-led boxing events and basketball leagues, the NFL is forging its own connections to the creator economy. It previously invited Amp to the Super Bowl to partake in...

The newest edgy FX drama doesn’t rely on biker gangs, rogue cops, rural-country drug lords or a man left alone in a world filled with women. Instead, it will focus on football players.

A gridiron game might not normally qualify for association with series like “Sons of Anarchy,” “The Shield,” “Justified” or “Y: The Last Man.” but starting this week, there will be plenty of nail-biting at FX, which is picking up live sports for the first time in years. XFL games will turn up on the network on weekends, a way for Disney to keep showing all the NBA, NHL and college matches that ESPN fans expect, while making a bid to bring other viewers in with the lure of football in the spring, when the NFL is on hiatus.

Disney intends to label the broadcasts as “ESPN on FX,” an identifier that is reminiscent of “FX on Hulu,...

Neo Studios has partnered with New World Distribution for the upcoming docuseries “Life After,” set to premiere Oct. 18 on Prime Video.

Directed by Nick Ruff, the eight-part docuseries follows 12 retired NFL players as they face a new chapter of their lives following their professional football careers. Each episode of “Life After” spotlights a former NFL player, including DeMarcus Ware, Spice Adams, Thomas Q. Jones, Bear Pascoe, Al Baker, Justin Forsett, Jeff Allen, Andrew Hawkins, Domenik Hixon, Sherrod Martin, Daniel Wilcox and Myron Rolle. The series features intimate interviews with the NFL veterans, along with their family members and friends.

“These athletes were so iconic in their football careers that their post-nfl lives are largely overlooked,” said Neo Studios’ head of unscripted Mike Basone. “One of our specialties at Neo is uncovering these under-explored and unexpected stories from the sports world, and ‘Life After’ is right in our sweet spot in that it highlights universal themes,...

Football icon Marshawn Lynch has a new team. The former NFL star running back has partnered with Endeavor and Overtime to launch the “Level Up” program for athletes pursuing careers in sports and entertainment.

The new athlete accelerator program is designed to diversify the talent pipeline across the industry and increase access for the more than 450,000 student-athletes who decide to pivot from professional sports into an another career path without the exposure to the business world their fellow students received through internships.

“Level Up” is a free two-week virtual course designed to provide current and former athletes with the tools necessary to translate their on-the-field talent and skills into a relevant professional experience to start a career. The program runs from June 20-30 with sessions at 5 p.m. Et.

Program participants will learn about career opportunities that exist in the industry and a variety of topics including, sports as a platform,...

Focusing on the positive impact that horror can have on people who live with mental illness, Mental Health & Horror: A Documentary is directed by Jonathan Barkan, and Daily Dead Editor-in-Chief Jonathan James has supported this project and will be credited as an associate producer. With the documentary in its final hours of its Indiegogo campaign, we've been provided with an exclusive clip and casting news to share with Daily Dead readers!

We're thrilled to exclusively share that in addition to its already impressive list of interviewees, Mental Health & Horror: A Documentary will also feature interviews with filmmaker and actor Larry Fessenden, filmmaker Ted Geoghegan, and filmmaker and horror host Blair Bathory (Fear Haus)!

Below, you can watch our exclusive clip featuring Fessenden, and to learn more about Mental Health & Horror: A Documentary, visit the documentary's Indiegogo page and official website!

Mental Health & Horror: A Documentary, the upcoming feature-length documentary discussing...

In the upcoming Mental Health and Horror: A Documentary, writer/director Jonathan Barkan and producer Andrew Hawkins look to explore the positive impact horror movies can have on our mental health. The project looks to be a very exciting opportunity to demystify the genre’s appeal for people who don’t consider themselves horror fans while also providing validation for those who may feel weird about finding comfort in these types of films.

I had an opportunity to chat with Hawkins about the documentary, and we took some time to discuss its origins and goals, the crew’s approach to interviewing subjects, and even some of Hawkins’ own relationship with horror and mental health. (Disclosure: Daily Dead’s Editor-in-Chief Jonathan James is credited in this project as an associate producer.)

Where did the idea to do a documentary on mental health come from?

I have to give all the credit for that to Jonathan Barkan.

After years of reading his thought-provoking work as a horror journalist, I was thrilled to hear the exciting news that Jonathan Barkan will direct Mental Health and Horror: A Documentary. Spotlighting the positive impact that horror can have on people that live with mental illness, this vital documentary is now available to support on Kickstarter, and we've been provided with an exclusive clip featuring insightful reflections from Abhora, a talented artist and contestant on the second season of The Boulet Brothers' Dragula.

You can check out the exclusive clip and official press release below, and to learn more about Mental Health and Horror: A Documentary, visit Kickstarter and the documentary's official website!

We're also happy to exclusively announce the following people will be joining the documentary cast: Dragpool, Carlos Baena (LA Noria), Molly Henery, and Tristan Risk!

Jonathan Barkan has teamed up with producer Andrew Hawkins to create Mental Health and Horror: A Documentary,...

CBS, NBC and Fox have all had issues with “Thursday Night Football.” Amazon sees possibilities.

The e-commerce and streaming giant believes a new deal with the NFL that gives it sole control over the league’s Thursday-night franchise lends it an opportunity to create new viewing experiences for streamers and chances to work more expansively with advertisers. In the past, Amazon has streamed Thursday games using the feed of the broadcast network producing the telecast, and has only been able to offer a limited amount of commercial inventory around each event.

“We have already devoted a lot of time to thinking about how to use new technologies to drive viewing experiences,” says Marie Donoghue, Amazon’s vice president of global sports video, in an interview. “We think this will be a great opportunity to continue to do that. The opportunities are endless with this relationship.”

Under terms of the pact,...

Amazon has set broadcast crews and other programming on Prime Video and Twitch for what it is billing as a week-long “NFL Holiday Blitz.”

The spree of football starts today and runs through Saturday’s exclusive stream of the San Francisco 49ers-Arizona Cardinals game, which will mark a milestone for Amazon. The company has steadily ramped up its sports offerings in recent years, part of an effort by several major tech firms to leverage the tune-in potency of live game coverage.

On Christmas Day, Prime Video and Twitch (the gaming-centric streaming platform Amazon acquired in 2014) will offer streams of the Minnesota Vikings-New Orleans Saints game. That complementary stream will follow the season’s Thursday night pattern, with Fox and the NFL Network airing the game on linear TV.

Hannah Storm, Andrea Kremer, Bucky Brooks, Daniel Jeremiah, and Joy Taylor will call both matchups on Prime Video. Andrew Hawkins,...

With his wildly popular vlog still on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, David Dobrik has announced his next foray onto television: a dodgeball competition series for the Discovery Channel that’s set to premiere later this month.

Dodgeball Thunderdome will be set on a 14-acre, specially-constructed course, and will see athletes and sports newbies alike competing in the beloved playground game. The Hollywood Reporter notest the nine-episode series will conclude with a tournament of champions comprising winners from past episodes, with a $25,000 cash prize at stake. Every episode ahead of the finale will also allow audience members to enter a chance to win $5,000 in cash, the Reporter notes -- a nod to Dobrik’s famously generous YouTube giveaways.

Dobrik will co-host the series alongside E! correspondent Eric Lim and NFL wide receiver Andrew Hawkins. The series, which premieres on Aug. 19, is being produced by Lionsgate's Pilgrim Media Group.

Chip and Joanna Gaines are bringing back their fan-favorite show. A reboot of Fixer Upper will premiere on the pair’s Magnolia Network when the joint venture with Discovery launches in 2021.

The home renovation series previously aired on HGTV for five seasons before ending its run in April 2018.

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“The day we wrapped our final episode of Fixer Upper, we really believed it was a chapter closed,” Chip and Joanna said in a statement.

YouTube has created a $100 million fund to help amplify the voices of Black creators and artists on its video streaming platform. As part of the initiative, YouTube today announced Bear Witness, Take Action, a 90-minute-plus special aimed at inspiring the platform’s global community to take action for racial justice. Hosted by Common and Keke Palmer, the special will feature YouTube creators, artists, public figures and activists. It’s set to premiere Saturday, June 13 at 6 Pm Et/3 Pm Pt.

“I support the Black Lives Matter movement and I think it’s imperative that we help amplify Black voices and continue the conversation about meaningful change and racial justice,” said Susanne Daniels, Global Head of Original Content for YouTube. “YouTube has a unique ability to unite creators, artists and powerful voices within the Black community to encourage the world to stand up and speak out for racial justice.”

Moderators include Jemele Hill,...

Exclusive: Producer Andre Gaines announced today that Qasim Basir will be directing the biopic of famed NFL long shot Andrew Hawkins currently titled Hawk. Gaines will produce for Curated By Media, and Hawkins will also serve as an Ep of the film. Cameras roll this summer.

Hawk follows the true story of supreme underdog Hawkins, who gained entry into the NFL after faking his height, weight and social status to earn a multimillion-dollar contract with the Cleveland Browns. Hawkins took a unique path to success. After building a mediocre football resume in college and standing only 5’7, Hawkins set out on an improbable, obstacle-ridden three year odyssey that included adding clay to heals to increase his height, adding weights to his pockets to increase his weight, and pretending to be his own agent on phone calls and emails to get admitted to tryouts – all eventually leading him to stardom in the NFL.

Television began by offering a square, 4:3 image. As home viewing grew more and more popular, HDTVs helped make the big screen’s 16:9 framing the standard for small screens, too, but now things are changing again. Content creators of all kinds — from Snapchat to NBC Entertainment to “Homecoming” director Sam Esmail — are sharing stories with vertical framings fit to your phone.

Say goodbye to widescreen and hello to… tallscreen? Thinscreen? Vertiscreen?

Whatever the kids decide to call it, taller, narrower frames are becoming more and more prevalent. As discussed on this week’s Very Good TV Podcast, take the new versions of “Saved by the Bell” — a series originally shot and broadcast in the box framing of its era that has now been recut into mini Instagram episodes. Oddly enough, even though Instagram made square images all the rage, these five-minute recaps are reformatted to utilize the full vertical frame of your phone.