Curry makes faithful moves through production company
LOS ANGELES — Stephen Curry may be a sharpshooting three-time NBA champion, but he is quickly building a career away from the court to inspire the masses through his burgeoning production company.
The Golden State Warriors superstar is strategically producing content that focuses on sports, family and faith through Unanimous Media , which he co-founded with Jeron Smith and Erick Peyton. The newly formed production company already has several projects under its belt including a major studio film, network television show and a couple documentaries in just a year.
The 31-year-old player said he wants to “uplift people who need to be uplifted.”
“We’ve been very selective about the things we want to bring to our audience,” he said. “In our first year, we really wanted to make people think, feel, laugh, cry and challenge them. When I’m out on the court, I’m all about inspiring people with my faith — win or lose. I try to do it with glory and with a smile on my face. We’re trying to take that same idea to our projects.”
One of Curry’s latest projects features himself in his original docuseries “Stephen vs. The Game “on Facebook Watch, a videoon-demand service.
The six-episode series chronicles his journey through this past season, featuring behind-the-scenes footage of Curry’s intense training regiment, family life and old videos from his youth basketball career. He and his wife, Ayesha, open up about their first date, and the reasoning behind his ritual of writing the partial Bible verse “I can do all things” on his basketball shoes since his days at Davidson College. The Currys have three children.
The upcoming season finale will focus on the Warriors’ injury-riddled playoff run that ended in the backto-back champs losing the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors this month.
“The finish this season was one of the most vulnerable ones,” he said. “Everybody wants the storybook ending where you have all these challenges and bumps in the road, but you end up at the finish line holding up the trophy, but it doesn’t always work out like that. But I learned a lot along the way, and I hope others can learn from watching my walk too.”
Smith said it’s all a part of Curry’s plan to impact the world in a positive manner through media.
“Everything is definitely by design,” said Smith, a former Nike brand manager and White House deputy of digital strategy during the Obama administration. He is the CEO, and Peyton serves as CCO for the production company.
“The first thing executives at Sony told us was that this is a tough business,” he said. “But what has helped us be successful is that everything we’re doing is rooted in purpose. That purpose gives us a point of view as you’re moving forward, as opposed to how a traditional media company would do it.”
The docuseries is among a slew of projects from Curry’s Unanimous Media, which is a play off him becoming the first unanimous MVP in NBA history in 2016.
Last year, Unanimous Media struck a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to produce television and film projects. The production company will have its production headquarters on the Sony backlot in Culver City, California.