ESPN Host & Improbable Media CEO Jay Williams Joins Basketball Feature ‘A Bridge Between’ As Executive Producer

EXCLUSIVE: ESPN host and Improbable Media CEO Jay Williams has signed directly to function an government manufacturer on A Bridge Between, an upcoming sports activities drama directed through Jeff Celentano (The Hill).

Based on a real tale, A Bridge Between facilities round Anthony Hodges, a tender basketball participant improving from a devastating automotive twist of fate that leaves him bodily injured and mentally shaken. As Anthony battles self-doubt and the lengthy highway of rehabilitation, an opportunity come across at a YMCA on Christmas Eve brings him face-to-face with Bobby Verdun, a former basketball trainer became mentor who carries emotional and bodily scars of his personal. Their not going bond turns into the root for Anthony’s go back to the court docket – and a lifestyles outlined no longer through tragedy, however through function.

Williams, whose personal basketball profession used to be reduce brief through a life-changing twist of fate, mentioned in a commentary that he sees the movie as a deeply private and transformative challenge.

“While not a biopic, this story does mirror certain aspects of my own journey – loss, identity, reinvention, and the question of who we are without the game,” he mentioned. “A Bridge Between is about more than basketball; it’s about the relationships that pull us from the edge and push us toward something greater.”

The movie used to be penned through Bobby Verdun (Hustle) and Rob Goodrich. Goodrich and Jason Armstrong will produce the challenge below their Walk Like A Duck Entertainment banner, in affiliation with Celentano and Warren Ostergard of Enliven Content. Casting is underway and is being directed through Lisa Beach, who up to now labored on Horrible Bosses, Wedding Crashers, and Walk the Line. Filming is ready to start out in July in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Williams is these days certainly one of ESPN’s main on-air individuals. He is the host of the community’s College GameDay display and continuously contributes to First Take and Get Up. He could also be the CEO of Improbable Media, an organization he began with Nigerian-Greek NBA celebrity Giannis Antetokounmpo. 

On the court docket, Williams used to be one of the prolific avid gamers in faculty basketball historical past, profitable the National Championship at Duke University in 2001 and being named Naismith College Player of the Year in 2002. He used to be the second one total select within the 2022 NBA Draft and performed for the Chicago Bulls.