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The SpringHill Company
LeBron James (co-founder)
Maverick Carter (co-founder and CEO)
Devin Johnson (president)
SpringHill Company has been behind some of the biggest sports-related films in recent years, including 2021’s “Space Jam: A New Legacy” and last year’s “Hustle,” a Netflix film starring Adam Sandler as an NBA scout. That shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the company is founded by arguably the biggest star in sports and his childhood friend.
LeBron James and Maverick Carter, who founded SpringHill in 2020, have no plans of slowing down. In addition to 2023 releases such as Peacock’s “Shooting Stars,” a biographical film about James’ high school sports career, the company took an innovative step earlier this year with its one-day film festival in Los Angeles that emphasized empowering athletes.
But the Uninterrupted Film Festival was not intended to focus only on SpringHill, which is guided by Devin Johnson, the company’s former COO who was promoted to president last year.
“We want it to be a celebration of all the creation that’s happening among so many athletes across the board,” said Jimmy Spencer, the general manager of Uninterrupted, which is SpringHill’s content-led athlete empowerment brand. “It’s a space that we are proud that we have staked a large claim in. However, we didn’t want this to be just another ‘Look what we’ve done’ moment. We wanted it to truly be an invitation to everyone.”
So while the festival featured “Black Ice,” a hockey documentary that has James and Carter among its executive producers, it also included “Goliath,” the Showtime documentary about Wilt Chamberlain that SpringHill had nothing to do with.
Spencer explained that the aim was for it to feel “a little more dynamic than film, panel, leave; film, panel, leave. I wanted it to feel a little bit more like what I call a circus. I wanted there to be athletes flowing on and off the stage.”
As such, the festival included panels with athletes such as Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, and a live podcast recording of “The Draymond Green Show” that featured the Golden State Warriors forward in addition to Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young. Newsy tidbits from each of those examples drew national headlines.
“It just showcases how powerful the voice of the athlete is,” said Spencer, who already is planning the second iteration of the festival next year. His hope is for it to become the “Sundance of sports.”
“Year 1 was awesome,” he said, “and we want to continue to grow and grow.” — Erik Bacharach
