The NBA champion and HBCU golfer explains how the relentlessness and attention to detail that powers LeBron James on the court helps him unlock success in film and television with SpringHill.
Through his production imprint, SpringHill Company, LeBron James‘ IMDB page lists 55 production credits to his name and five upcoming projects, including Shooting Stars, a biopic on the young King’s high school playing days and the friendships he forged on his path to the NBA.
From The Shop, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and the Disney+ series The Crossover, James has been instrumental in helping SpringHill sell a stake in the company to investors at a $725 million valuation in October 2021. LeBron was an executive producer on Redefined: JR Smith, a four-part Prime Video documentary released last week chronicling his former Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers‘ title-winning teammate throughout his education and golf journey at HBCU North Carolina A&T.
“He and I obviously have an extremely close relationship,” JR Smith told Boardroom of James, “and I definitely wanted to be a part of it because I’ve seen some of his work and the way he thinks.”
If you’ve ever see LeBron play basketball, you can tell that his brain is wired differently than a vast majority of human beings — you’re either on board and helping LeBron win or you’re going to get left behind. As Smith told the New York Post earlier this month, “If you’re not built for that, you’re not made for that, it’s going to eat you alive.”
And from the locker room to the rim and from the boardroom to the editing bay, LBJ is never not hungry.
Smith made it clear that the same mentality that has propelled King James to rare heights on the hardwood translates beyond the court to James’ skills as a film executive.
“Just to take in so much information, store it, and then use it in a matter of seconds,” Smith said of the superstar Laker’s particular set of skills, “and to see him break down film and shots, knowing what looks good and what doesn’t, and his eye. Seeing his input, it made the series a lot better from where we started. I think he’s on his way to doing something really special and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
All four episodes of Redefined: JR Smith are available now on Prime Video. Click here to learn more and watch.
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Selected SpringHill Company Film & TV Projects
Movies
- What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali (2019)
- Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street (2021)
- Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)
- Hustle (2022)
- Fantasy Football (2022)
- Fate of a Sport (2022)
- The Redeem Team (2022)
- House Party (2023)
- Shooting Stars (2023)
Television
- Survivor’s Remorse (2014-17)
- The Wall (2016-)
- Shut Up and Dribble (2018–2020)
- The Shop (2018-)
- Million Dollar Mile (2019)
- Top Boy (2019-)
- Self Made (2020)
- Elite Youth (2020-)
- The Playbook (2021)
- The Crossover (2023)
- Redefined: J.R. Smith (2023)
More King James:
