The sports docuseries craze is hitting the college circuit, with USC star JuJu Watkins set to star in and executive produce an upcoming documentary series for NBC and Peacock.
The series, On the Rise: JuJu Watkins, will premiere its first two episodes on Saturday. Nov. 23. at 3 p.m. on NBC, just ahead of the broadcast of the USC vs. Notre Dame basketball game. Episodes three through six will be exclusive to NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service.
The series, from Klutch Sports, Uninterrupted and 4.4.Forty, will “give people more insight into who I am, my values and my story, because I take so much pride in it,” Watkins tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview.
But it is also quietly carving out an entirely new model for the sports doc, with most previous projects connected to all-time-great players or historic moments, or perhaps a current behind-the-scenes series like Netflix’s Starting 5. On The Rise is following a singular college athlete, Watkins, from her high school days through her freshman year only. While it’s only a matter of tine before she goes pro, the series effectively serves as an introduction to someone who is a future superstar. Never before has a college athlete produced a docuseries about their own life while still playing in the NCAA.
“The Olympics probably do this the best, right? You get these amazing, heartwarming packages, and now the stakes are so high when you’re watching that bobsledder. Now imagine if Caitlin [Clark] had this before when we were watching those Iowa games,” says Uninterrupted’s Jamal Henderson. “I think this is the new, innovative model in storytelling, and that’s why we’re really excited to be a part of it.”
Henderson says that they first met Watkins when she was playing at Sierra Canyon at the same time Bronny James was. She signed with Klutch Sports for representation.
“The boom in women’s basketball was starting to take hold, obviously, and everything in the landscape was shifting, but it also was pretty clear early on that JuJu was special, even from that early stage,” says 4.4.Forty Media’s Danny Barton. “I actually remember calling Jamal about this when we first started, and just saying, ‘look like we need to put cameras on her, because something great is going to come out of this.’ And we didn’t even know what it was ultimately going to be.”
Now the fruits of that project will be seen on NBC and Peacock, with Watkins also noting that she is excited for the country to get to know her a bit better.
“I’m an introvert, so I don’t really share that much online, honestly,” she says. “I think to just give people more perspective into who I am, and my family, my friends, I think that’s also an important dynamic. And like I said, I’m introverted, so this is kind of my way of sharing myself a little bit with with everyone else.”
And as women’s basketball continues its rapid rise at both the college and WNBA level, Henderson says that his company — backed by LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill — is ready to take advantage of the boom.
As for Watkins, Barton says that if the initial season of On The Rise does well, it could portend future opportunities — perhaps as the USC star weighs whether to go pro.
“We’re definitely in the middle of discussions right now to figure out what continuum would look like,” he says. “Obviously, as she continues to grow, the story continues to grow, and the potential for it’s there.”
NBC, it should be noted, not only has Big Ten rights, but will also gain WNBA rights beginning next year, marking a significant increase in its women’s sports portfolio.
LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Devin Johnson, Jamal Henderson and Philip Byron executive produce for Uninterrupted; Watkins and Rich Paul of Klutch Sports and Danny Barton of 4.4.Forty Media will also executive produce. Nikki Spetseris is the showrunner, and Amy Glickman Brown is co-executive Producer for Uninterrupted.
English (US) ·