NBA Baller Lebron James Makes Hollywood Move, Announces New Sitcom ‘Survivors Theme’
Because winning his second NBA championship this year isn’t enough for 28-year-old veteran, LeBron James continues to penetrate business outside of the court. The Miami Heat player is working with Starz, to create his own half-hour sitcom. Titled ‘Survivors Theme‘, King James will be one of the executive producers of the show, which will explore the lives of two men from the streets who attain fame — one is an NBA star and one is not — and how they deal with friends and families in the wake of that success. In an interview with AP, he explained:
I think the main thing for me is, first of all, making it out of a place where you’re not supposed to. You’re supposed to be a statistic and end up like the rest of the people in the inner city — (and) being one of the few to make it out and everyone looking at you to be the savior. When you make it out, everyone expects for — they automatically think that they made it out and it’s very tough for a young, African-American 18-year-old kid to now hold the responsibility of a whole city, of a whole community. I can relate to that as well.
The Akron native is developing the show with his longtime friend and business partner, Maverick Carter; Tom Werner, the producer behind classic shows like “Roseanne” and “The Cosby Show”; and actor Mike O’Malley, who will be an executive producer and is the show’s writer. Maverick commented:
“It’s definitely not an autobiographical series about my life or LeBron’s life; it’s fictional characters living in a fictional world. LeBron is actually too famous, he would screw the show up if I tried to make a show about him.”
The show is based in North Philadelphia (instead of Akron, Ohio, where the two are from. No official details about the show’s air date has yet been released.
[Associated Press]