Carmelo Anthony has made sure over the past two seasons in Portland that he still has plenty to offer on the NBA court, but as happens to all players as they get older, he’s also keeping one eye on his post-basketball career. On Tuesday, he announced in an interview with Variety that he and his longtime business partner and strategist Asani Swann are launching Creative 7, a production and content company that already has some TV and film projects in the works, joining fellow NBA stars LeBron James and Kevin Durant in the production and content world.
“Storytelling brings people together, and it can serve as a vehicle for propelling larger societal conversations and understanding,” Anthony said to Variety. “We are interested in all types of stories that have the power to serve as catalysts for the change we wish to see in the world.”
Among the projects in the works are a limited series on the friendship between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X called “Blood Brothers” with A&E Studios, as well an unnamed project on the Jersey Four, a group of young basketball players who were racially profiled and shot at by police on the Jersey Turnpike in 1998. While one might assume his close friend in LeBron James would serve as his inspiration, its another mega-star that’s gone from the world of sports to TV and film that Anthony cited as his greatest inspiration.
“Honestly, the way that Dwayne Johnson has approached the business is unparalleled. He came at it with the approach that he was just going to do the work, build a legacy and let his resume speak for itself,” Anthony says of the former WWE wrestler, who is now the highest-paid actor in Hollywood with his own prolific production company. “He put in the hard work and the commitment to change the game, and has continued to chart a path that is all his own.”
Anthony and Swann hope to tell continue opening up paths for storytellers to tell important stories that haven’t necessarily been given opportunity in the past.