“He was like, I want to make this about the domino effect of going from high school to the pros. He’s going from sitting straight across from me staring at me to leaning back in his chair to his feet up, to getting up pacing the room, to getting in a defensive stance,” says Newman. “He was so animated and couldn’t sit still. He knew what he wanted this film to be, and just as with anything involving Kevin Garnett, everyone simply watched with amazement.
Garnett had something to say and went into full KG mode. But, as soon as the meeting began, the plan went out the window and the 15-time All-Star immediately took the reins. Newman shared his own story about how basketball has played a huge role in his life, a moment of vulnerability that he feels helped create a level of trust and respect between the two early on.ĭuring that meeting, everyone was ready to execute the pitch to the SHOWTIME Sports team. Newman and Garnett spent nearly the entire day together, getting breakfast and bouncing around the city. The initial pitch meeting went well and led to another one getting scheduled in July at SHOWTIME’s office in New York. KG, Marangu, Bennett, Newman and Brian Dailey, SVP of SHOWTIME Sports, all sat in one of SHOWTIME’s West Hollywood offices, while the Levins called in. The first meeting with SHOWTIME took place in June 2019, during the NBA Finals. That includes “The Butterfly Effect,” a diagram he created, which was inspired by an earlier conversation he had with KG, that shows just how much KG impacted the League, the culture and how he paved the way for future generations. “I tend to go mad scientist mode with story decks, and I took this to a different level,” Newman recalls. Together, Newman, with Dan and Marc Levin created the concept of what Kevin’s documentary would be and put together the dense story deck that was presented in the pitch meeting with SHOWTIME. Newman had served as a producer on both The Legend of Swee’ Pea and created the vision and executive produced the DeMarcus Cousins film, The Resurgence, with SHOWTIME. I see what other players are doing, and I love those guys and all that, but I just want to do all gangster shit.”Īfter that conversation, Marangu reached out to Levin, who reeled in Newman-who at the time was building his work as a filmmaker and producer covering sports. He’s just an amazing storyteller and he always says that came from hip-hop…from day one he was like, I don’t do anything soft. “He’s full sweat, acting out and imitating everyone’s voices. “When you’re talking to him and he’s literally acting it out, he can’t just tell you a story,” Marangu says on a Zoom call.
No shade to other sports docs, but having grown up in the era of hip-hop and the heavy influence of Nas, Tupac and Biggie, KG told Marangu that he wanted his own documentary to be, in his own words, some “gangster shit.” The two had been introduced in 2018, just two years after KG retired, by Brian Bennett. Garnett also shared his interest in documentaries with Mike Marangu, who had previously worked with Levin on a number of sports documentaries, including Freeway: Crack in the System, along with being a producer on Iverson. Garnett, who had seen Levin’s earlier film, Gang War: Banging in Little Rock, was intrigued by notorious gang leader Larry Hoover and interested in telling his story.
Marc Levin, who first met KG during a Super Bowl LIII party, remembers having earlier conversations with him about his interests in exploring filmmaking and production. “When we finished that conversation, I remember thinking that if there was ever an opportunity to do a project with him, I would jump at it because he is such a great dynamic, peripatetic personality and has really been an icon and a trailblazer in the League and in the culture for a long, long time.” “We ended up talking so long that eventually, they had to separate us because we’re keeping everyone else in the cabin awake talking and laughing,” he says. SHOWTIME, one of the Barclays Center sponsors, was invited to join the Nets on the trip, and Espinoza recalls chatting with KG on the plane about boxing as well as Kevin’s post-career plans and goals. Stephen Espinoza, president of SHOWTIME Sports, recalls the first time he met KG, back in 2014 while on a flight from New York to China. Garnett had expressed his interest in filmmaking way before the documentary even came to fruition.