Granity Studios

Last updated

Granity Studios
Industry Media
Founded2013;9 years ago (2013)
Headquarters Newport Beach, California
Key people
 Vanessa Bryant; CEO
Products Books, television, podcasts, films
Website https://granitystudios.com

Granity Studios is a multimedia original content company formed by former NBA player Kobe Bryant, focused on creating new ways to tell stories around sports. [1] The company is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.

Contents

History

Granity Studios was launched by Kobe Bryant in 2013 as a company that developed different media, ranging from films, to television shows, to novels. [2]

In 2017, Granity Studios produced Dear Basketball , an animated short film based on Kobe Bryant's retirement poem in The Players' Tribune , and was directed and animated by Glen Keane, with music by John Williams. [3] At the 90th Academy Awards, Keane and Bryant won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for their work on Dear Basketball. Bryant became the first African-American to win the category and the first former professional athlete to be nominated and to win an Academy Award in any category. [4] The film also won the Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject and a Sports Emmy Award. [5] This was also the first Oscar win for Keane, a veteran Disney animator. [6]

In addition to future animation projects, Bryant had been in talks with animator veterans Bruce W. Smith and Sergio Pablos for the last six months before his death about starting his own animation studio. [7]

Beginning in 2018, Bryant wrote, produced and hosted the television series Detail, which aired for multiple seasons on ESPN and ESPN+. It featured his insights into the game of basketball and in-depth analyses of games and individual players. [8] [9]

On October 23, 2018, Bryant's book The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, with photographs and afterword by Andrew D. Bernstein, an introduction by Phil Jackson, and a foreword by Pau Gasol, was published by MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book looks back on his career with photos and his reflections. [10] [11]

At the time of his death in 2020, Bryant was working with Brazilian author Paulo Coelho on a children's book aimed at inspiring underprivileged children. After Bryant's death, Coelho deleted the draft, saying in an interview that "it didn't make any sense to publish without him." He did not say how many pages had been written or whether the book had a title. [12]

Bryant also co-wrote/produced several young adult novels through Granity Studios: The Wizenard Series: Training Camp, Legacy and the Queen, and Epoca: The Tree of Ecrof. A fourth novel, The Wizenard Series: Season One, was released posthumously in March 2020. [13] The Wizarenard Series: Season One topped the New York Times middle-grade hardcover list. [14]

Vanessa Bryant is the president and chief executive officer of Granity Studios. [15]

Films

YearTitleDirectorNotesRef
2015Kobe Bryant's MuseGotham Chopra
2017 Dear Basketball Glen Keane Winner of Best Animated Short Film at the 90th Academy Awards.

Television

YearTitleCreated & Written byNotes
2017Musecage Kobe Bryant Produced by Granity Studios for ESPN and ESPN+
2018Detail Kobe Bryant Produced by Granity Studios for ESPN and ESPN+; 18 episodes as a host, 16 episodes as a writer for Bryant

Books

YearTitleWritten ByCreated ByPublisherNotes
2018The Mamba Mentality: How I Play Kobe Bryant Farrar, Straus and Giroux Introduction by Phil Jackson, foreword by Pau Gasol & photos by Andrew D. Bernstein
2019The Wizenard Series: Training CampWesley King Kobe Bryant Granity Studios
2019Legacy and the QueenAnnie Matthews Kobe Bryant Granity Studios
2019Epoca: The Tree of EcrofIvy Claire Kobe Bryant Granity Studios
2020Geese Are Never SwansEva Clark Kobe Bryant Granity Studios
2020Epoca: The River of SandIvy Claire Kobe Bryant Granity Studios
2020The Wizarenard Series: Season OneWesley King Kobe Bryant Granity Studiosposthumously published after Bryant's death
2021Legacy and the DoubleAnnie Matthew Kobe Bryant Granity Studiosposthumously published after Bryant's death

Podcasts

YearTitleWritten ByCreated ByNotesRef
2018–presentThe PuniesJon Haller Kobe Bryant 2 Seasons

Related Research Articles

The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is given each year for animated films. An animated feature is defined by the Academy as a film with a running time of more than 40 minutes in which characters' performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique, a significant number of the major characters are animated, and animation figures in no less than 75 percent of the running time. The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was first awarded in 2002 for films made in 2001.

Paulo Coelho Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Paulo Coelho de Souza is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. His novel The Alchemist has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide and is the all-time best-selling book by a Brazilian writer. He influenced Brazilian rock music through his partnership with the musician Raul Seixas.

Kobe Bryant American basketball player (1978–2020)

Kobe Bean Bryant was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Bryant won five NBA championships, was an 18-time All-Star, a 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, a 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. Bryant also led the NBA in scoring twice, and ranks fourth in league all-time regular season and postseason scoring. He was posthumously voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.

Glen Keane American writer and artist

Glen Keane is an American animator, author and illustrator. He was a character animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios for feature films including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tarzan and Tangled. He received the 1992 Annie Award for character animation and the 2007 Winsor McCay Award for lifetime contribution to the field of animation. He was named a Disney Legend in 2013.

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Company animation studio

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Andrew D. Bernstein is an American sports photographer.

<i>Dear Basketball</i> 2017 animated film directed by Glen Keane

Dear Basketball is a 2017 American animated film written and narrated by Kobe Bryant and directed and animated by Glen Keane, with music by John Williams. The film is based on a letter Bryant wrote for The Players' Tribune on November 29, 2015, announcing his retirement from basketball.

John Kahrs American actor, animator and film director

John Kahrs is an American actor, animator and film director.

Kristopher Bowers is an American composer and pianist who has composed scores for films, video games, television and documentaries including Green Book, Madden NFL, Dear White People, and Kobe Bryant's Muse. He has recorded, performed, and collaborated with the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye West, and José James. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition in 2011 and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition in 2017 for The Snowy Day. He has also composed the score for Ava DuVernay's Netflix mini-series When They See Us.

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The year 1978 in animation involved some events.

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John Altobelli American baseball coach

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Kobe Bryant Day Proposed Federal Holiday honoring Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant Day is a day that was celebrated on August 24, 2020 in Los Angeles and Orange County commemorating the life of basketball player Kobe Bryant. The date was chosen as the holiday because of Bryant's numbers on his jerseys, as well as it being the day after his birthday, August 23. On July 27, 2021, California Congresswoman Michelle Steel introduced a resolution that would recognize the day nationally.

Wesley King is a Canadian author of young adult fiction books. Both his novels with the late Kobe Bryant debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list. He currently resides in Lake Echo, Nova Scotia.

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Martin Desmond Roe is a British-American film and television director, writer, and producer. He is best known for Buzkashi Boys (2012), Kobe Bryant's Muse (2015), Breaking2 (2017), Tom vs Time (2018), and We are the Champions (2020). Roe is the founder and Creative Director of Dirty Robber, a Los Angeles-based production company.

Vanessa Bryant

Vanessa Marie Bryant is an American philanthropist, business executive, and former model. She became a public figure after her marriage to basketball player Kobe Bryant. They founded the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Foundation in 2007 to provide scholarships to minority college students worldwide. Bryant leads the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation to support child athletes in need. She the president and chief executive officer of Granity Studios.

References

  1. ↑ "Granity Studios: About Us". Granity Studios.
  2. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (January 28, 2020). "Kobe Bryant's Death Cuts Short a Promising Second Act in Entertainment". Variety.
  3. ↑ "Dear Basketball". California Film Institute. January 25, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2020– via Vimeo.
  4. ↑ Schwartz, Dana (March 4, 2018). "Kobe Bryant is officially an Oscar winner". Entertainment Weekly .
  5. ↑ America, Good Morning. "Kobe Bryant honored at 2020 Oscars". Good Morning America. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  6. ↑ "90th Academy Award Animated Film Nominees". The Oscars 2018. Disney Enterprises, Inc. January 23, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  7. ↑ Wit, Alex Dudok de (February 18, 2020). "Kobe Bryant Was Planning To Launch An Animation Studio; Sergio Pablos And Bruce Smith Involved". Cartoon Brew.
  8. ↑ "Jazz's Mitchell taking analysis of Kobe to heart". ESPN.com. May 2, 2018. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Kobe Bryant explains his 'Detail' show on ESPN". 247Sports.com. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  10. ↑ Bryant, Kobe (October 24, 2018). "Inside the Mamba Mentality". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  11. ↑ Ward, Ryan (October 29, 2018). "Legendary photographer Andrew Bernstein talks collaboration with Kobe Bryant on Mamba Mentality". Clutch Points. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Author deletes children's book co-written with Kobe Bryant". Associated Press. January 27, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  13. ↑ Pinho, Faith E. (January 29, 2020). "Kobe Bryant brought sports to page, podcast and film through Costa Mesa production company Granity Studios". Los Angeles Times.
  14. ↑ Haring, Bruce (April 9, 2020). "Kobe Bryant Book For Children And Young Adults Hits No. 1 On NY Times Bestseller List".
  15. ↑ "Vanessa Bryant 'Extremely Thankful' for Friends Who Have Helped Her Cope With Kobe and Gianna's Deaths". KVUE. January 25, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
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