Shaquille O’Neal is many issues: a four-time NBA championship-winning basketball participant, a sports activities analyst, an entrepreneur, a DJ, an actor and most lately, a movie and tv producer. Underneath his manufacturing firm Jersey Legends, a department of Authentic Studios, Shaq has been the inventive and enterprise pressure behind “Shaq,” his Sports activities Emmy-nominated HBO docuseries, the Oscar-winning documentary brief “The Queen of Basketball,” and extra. His newest venture is “Allen Iv3rson,” a three-part documentary collection set to launch Oct. 23 on Amazon Prime.
The brand new doc tells the story of Allen Iverson, the NBA level and capturing guard who performed within the league from 1996 to 2010, most prominently for the Philadelphia 76ers, sporting the quantity three on his jersey. He was an 11-time NBA All-Star, a four-time NBA scoring champion and the league’s MVP in 2001. He was inducted into the Basketball Corridor of Fame in 2016. Iverson’s story encompasses way over simply what occurred on the court docket, although.
Iverson grew up in Hampton, Va. He turned a star athlete in highschool and performed AAU basketball, successful the 17-and-under nationwide championship in 1992. In 1993, nevertheless, Iverson was accused of beginning a combat at a bowling alley in Hampton. He was arrested, tried as an grownup, and convicted on the obscure cost of “maiming by mob.” Of the many individuals concerned within the brawl, solely Iverson and three different Black males had been convicted. His sentence was 15 years in jail with 10 years suspended, however the conviction was overturned for inadequate proof 4 months in.
After his launch, Iverson completed highschool and was recruited to play basketball for Georgetown College, the place he attended for 2 years earlier than leaving to turn into the primary total choose within the 1996 NBA draft. Over his illustrious profession, he made impacts each on and off the court docket. Unapologetically sporting a cornrow coiffure and tattoos, and recording rap music throughout the offseason, he was a pressure of change within the tradition of basketball
Although Iverson and Shaq had been rivals on the court docket, they’re now enterprise companions at Genuine. Shaq serves as president of Reebok Basketball whereas Iverson is VP. The 2 collaborated on and appeared collectively in Jersey Legend’s Netflix documentary “Energy Strikes” earlier this 12 months, and now, Iverson takes heart stage, sharing his story in his personal phrases with “Allen Iv3rson.”
The collection is directed by One9 (“Iceman,” Nas: Time Is Illmatic”) and is produced by Stephen Curry’s Unanimous alongside Jersey Legends.
“A core a part of Shaquille’s enterprise imaginative and prescient has been constructing a manufacturing firm that permits him to create content material he’s really obsessed with. ‘Iv3rson’ represents that strategy and allowed him to take the lead in creating, producing, and advertising and marketing a venture the place he wasn’t the first topic,” says Colin Smeeton, president, West Coast, Genuine Studios. “As we increase the Jersey Legends’ improvement slate, Shaquille has absolutely embraced his position as a producer, with networks and streaming platforms wanting to see what he creates subsequent.”
Shaq joined Selection for an interview on his relationship with Iverson and their highway to this newest venture.
Let’s begin at the start, when did you first meet Allen Iverson and what had been your preliminary impressions of him?
I met him within the NBA. I didn’t know a lot about him in school, however we performed towards him in a preseason recreation. He and Nick Van Exel had been going backwards and forwards, and I knew he had one thing. I knew that he was going to be nice. And naturally, I adopted his profession, and we bumped into one another on the All-Star recreation and simply turned good buddies. He was a fierce competitor who modified the tradition. The explanation you see guys doing sure stuff at this time is as a result of he did it and he took all of the unhealthy press with it. Earlier than we got here in, no person actually had tattoos, no person had braids and no person was carrying a variety of jewellery. He did that, took the brunt of what got here with it and withstood all that stuff. And now everyone does it.
At what level in your relationship with Iverson did you envision making a documentary about his story?
I wished to inform the true story. You realize, lots of people don’t get to inform their story once they’re a star. Generally different folks can inform your story and paint an image of something they need. Numerous the time, if you’re an enormous identify, any person will make the story unbelievable. So I simply had a dialog with him. I mentioned, “Hey, we need to hear from you. We would like you to inform your story. We don’t need different folks telling the story.” As a result of he’s a really quiet, enigmatic man, we simply needed to have that dialog. And since we’re good buddies, he believed in me, and he let my manufacturing firm take cost.
What was it like collaborating with Stephen Curry and his firm, Unanimous, on this venture?
It was all good. In our world, we’ve a saying: “Everyone can eat.” Steph may deliver one thing to the desk, his firm may deliver one thing and I may deliver one thing.
What about your director? How did you land on One9?
I’ve been within the enterprise a very long time and I do know who’s who. One9 is edgy and artistic, and we didn’t need one thing that was boring. We wished any person that was going to get into it and present us one thing that we haven’t actually seen earlier than.
As soon as the venture was developed, what position did you play when the cameras began rolling?
I’m the president, so my position is to supervise everyone and ensure they’re doing what they’re alleged to do. If you’re the president, it’s a must to be good at delegation. The very first thing we did was rent One9. The second factor we did was deliver on Steph’s firm. The third factor we did was have a dialog about tips on how to proceed. I’m not behind the cameras. I’m not doing the sound, writing the script or something like that, however my companions and I had been in a position to assist one another, delegate and discover the best folks to make this the perfect venture ever.
And the way did the collection discover its dwelling on Amazon?
In our world, if you give you an concept, you go and current it to folks and whoever takes it takes it. Now, I’ve been in a variety of conferences the place the folks you’re pitching to aren’t or they’re not getting into the identical route. In these instances, it’s a must to do one thing else. However once we pitched this one, they had been very impressed and so they informed us to not take some other conferences.
What do you hope that audiences will take away from this documentary? How is it totally different from among the different protection that Iverson’s story has acquired prior to now?
We’re simply hoping that folks see the true individual. Individuals need celebrities to be good, however good is within the eye of the beholder. Allen Iverson is ideal to Allen Iverson, and that’s all that issues. That’s why he was in a position to face up to all of the stuff he went by means of and nonetheless turn into a Corridor of Famer. It’s a must to be who you might be. Numerous instances in our trade, they need us to make certain methods, however Allen has at all times stood out. He’s gonna do it his manner.
