ESPN, Netflix Team to Create Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls Documentary
ESPN and Netflix will jointly produce a documentary series chronicling NBA star Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls championship teams, the network announced during its upfront presentation in New York Tuesday.
The 10-part series, The Last Dance, which showcase the last of the team’s six championships during the Jordan era, according to the network. The documentary will feature more than 500 hours of never-before-seen footage of the team’s 1997-98 season, and will have full participation from Jordan and other key figures from the Bulls’ championship teams.
The series, produced by Mike Tollin and directed by Jason Hehir (The Fab Five, The ’85 Bears, Andre the Giant) will premiere in 2019.
Also for basketball fans, the network will produce Basketball: A Love Story, featuring short stories from 63 current and former NBA and WNBA players as well as executives discussing what the sport means to them.
ESPN also announced a four-part series starring former pro baseball star Alex Rodriguez. The series, Pivot With Alex Rodriquez, will feature the three-time Most Valuable Player and ESPN Sunday Night Baseball Analyst conducting in-depth interviews with current or former star athletes who are navigating through obstacles in their life and careers, according to ESPN.
The series will air on ESPN and ESPN Deportes this summer during the Major League Baseball season, said ESPN.
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R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.